{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_69442/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_69442","id":"gutenberg_69442","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69442","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: Health & Medicine","Category: History - Other","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Symbolism in medicine"],"text":"[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n               No. 9 IN THE PHYSICIANS\u2019 AND STUDENTS\u2019 READY\n                            REFERENCE SERIES.\n\n                            MEDICAL SYMBOLISM\n\n                            IN CONNECTION WITH\n\n                    HISTORICAL STUDIES IN THE ARTS OF\n                           HEALING AND HYGIENE.\n\n                               ILLUSTRATED.\n\n                                    BY\n                    THOMAS S. SOZINSKEY, M.D., PH.D.,\n       AUTHOR OF \u201cTHE CULTURE OF BEAUTY,\u201d \u201cTHE CARE AND CULTURE OF\n                             CHILDREN,\u201d ETC.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n                         PHILADELPHIA AND LONDON:\n                         F. A. DAVIS, PUBLISHER.\n                                  1891.\n\n        Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1891, by\n                          EDWARD S. POWER, M.D.,\nIn the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C., U. S. A.\n\n                              Philadelphia:\n                   The Medical Bulletin Printing House,\n                           1231 Filbert Street.\n\n\n\n\nDEDICATION.\n\n\nThe medical profession is often spoken of as non-progressive. As a\npractical member of it, the author is of a different opinion. He knows\nfull-well not only that, to many, age does not tend to make anything\nmedical more worthy of attention, but that the old is apt to be wilfully\noverlooked. He discovered some time ago that in the library of the\nCollege of Physicians of Philadelphia\u2014the centre, probably, of medical\nlearning in the United States\u2014Adams\u2019 edition of the works of Hippocrates\nhad rested with the leaves uncut for over twenty years. New things are\nfar too much in vogue. If Bacon were alive to-day he might still say,\nwith too much truth, as he said three hundred years ago: \u201cLet a man look\ninto physicians\u2019 prescripts and ministrations and he will find them but\ninconstancies and every-day devices, without any settled providence or\nproject\u201d (\u201cAdvancement of Learning\u201d). The age is too much one of trial,\nof incoherency, to be either eminently scientific or highly successful\nin practice. Beyond question, the medicine of the past is harmfully\nneglected; for its literature few have a desirable taste, and fewer yet\na sufficient knowledge. Deploring this state of things, the author would\ngladly assist in bringing about a change. Hence, it affords him pleasure\nto dedicate this essay to his professional brethren.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nIn this essay I have treated, as the title indicates, of medical\nsymbolism in connection with studies, essentially historical, in the\narts of healing and hygiene. Some parts of it bear only indirectly on\nthe main subject; but they serve to render the whole more complete and\ninteresting. Doubtless the reader will not be inclined to find much fault\nwith any of the apparent digressions.\n\nIn the score of chapters into which the essay is divided, attention\nis invited to numerous more or less remarkable matters pertaining to\nmedicine, most of them of very ancient date, and some of practical\nimportance. Medical mythology is treated of very fully; and, on this,\nas indeed on all points, the results of the most recent arch\u00e6ological\nand other investigations are given. All I have said is deserving, I\nbelieve, of the consideration of educated physicians.[1] \u201cThe wise\nman will seek out the wisdom of all the ancients,\u201d says the author of\n\u201cEcclesiasticus,\u201d[2] one who had the tastes of a cultivated medical man.\n\nAlthough the essay is mainly on old things, I venture to hold that it\ncontains much which a fairly well-read physician will find fresh. The\nground gone over has been little trodden before. It may be said, as\nPliny did, by way of suggestion of difficulties to be overcome, when\nhe sat down to write his sketch of the history of the art of medicine,\n\u201cthat no one has hitherto treated of this subject.\u201d[3] But just as Pliny\noverlooked what Celsus had done, and done well, so in this case, some\nworthy author may have been overlooked; still, this is improbable. What\nis here presented, and in part coherently, is gathered from manifold\nsources. I have limited my references as much as possible to works in the\nEnglish language, or translations. The statements of authors are given in\ntheir own words; but quotations of wearisome length have been avoided.\n\nThe possibility of research in respect to the themes treated of, and\nallied ones, not being limited, the essay cannot be expected to be either\nperfect or complete. Whatever its merits or shortcomings may be, however,\nit is an outcome of congenial studies pursued for their own sake. I\nbelieve it contains a fund of information which deserves to be widely\nknown. The perusal of it may, at least, serve to excite an interest in\nthe ample literature and long and remarkable history of the benevolent\nand learned profession of medicine.\n\n                                                                  T. S. S.\n\n\n\n\nBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THOMAS S. SOZINSKEY, M.D., PH.D.\n\n\nThomas S. Sozinskey, M.D., Ph.D., the author of this interesting little\nvolume, was born in County Derry, Ireland, and died in the city of\nPhiladelphia, April 18, 1889, in the thirty-seventh year of his age.\nHe came to this country when seventeen years of age, and settled in\nPhiladelphia. Entering the University of Pennsylvania some years later,\nhe graduated from that institution, and afterward began the study of\nmedicine, receiving the degree of Doctor of Medicine in the year 1872. He\nalso received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the same faculty.\n\nDr. Sozinskey immediately entered upon his career as medical practitioner\nin Philadelphia, where he remained until his marriage to Miss Abby W.\nJohnson, a daughter of Luke Johnson, who was a descendant of one of the\nfounders of Germantown.\n\nShortly after his marriage Dr. Sozinskey decided to visit Kansas City,\npartly with the idea of locating there; but after a sojourn of about\none year in the West he returned to Philadelphia, and began again the\npractice of his chosen profession, succeeding in a few years in building\nup a very extensive and lucrative practice in the northwestern section of\nthe city.\n\nDr. Sozinskey was a man highly intellectual, studious, and scholarly.\nHe was a frequent contributor to a number of leading medical journals,\nas well as the author of several well-known works, among which may be\nmentioned \u201cThe Care and Culture of Children.\u201d Also, a little volume\nentitled \u201cPersonal Appearance and the Culture of Beauty.\u201d\n\nHis last literary effort, \u201cMedical Symbolism,\u201d which is a work showing\na vast amount of research, was completed just before his death. He was\ninduced to undertake \u201cMedical Symbolism\u201d after the appearance of an\narticle bearing this title in the _Medical and Surgical Reporter_, which\nattracted considerable attention, both in this country and in Europe.\n\nHe received so many letters from men prominent in the medical profession,\nsuggesting that a book be written upon this subject, that the task was\nundertaken.\n\nBy his untimely death three small children became orphans, the mother\nhaving died one year earlier, after a short illness.\n\nHis readiness to attend the sick, regardless of compensation, greatly\nendeared him to a large number of the poor.\n\nContaining, as it does, so much that is unique, and in a field not\noften touched by previous writers, \u201cMedical Symbolism\u201d is sure to\nfind appreciative readers, not only among the fraternity to which Dr.\nSozinskey belonged, but among the scientific and literary generally; and,\nfrom the encouragement already received, the publishers feel confident of\na large and wide-spread demand for this little volume.\n\n                                                                  E. S. P.\n\nPHILADELPHIA, October 27, 1890.\n\n\n\n\nCOMMENDATORY LETTERS.\n\n\n                                        PHILADELPHIA, Jan, 24, 1884.\n\n    DR. T. S. SOZINSKEY:\n\n    DEAR SIR:\u2014Please accept my thanks for your paper on \u201cMedical\n    Symbolism,\u201d received this morning. I have read it with great\n    interest, more especially as it is in the direction of the\n    higher education of physicians. The preponderance of the\n    so-called practical (empirical) in medical literature, which\n    appeals strongly to the _trade_ element in the profession,\n    makes such a contribution all the more enjoyable.\n\n                           Very truly yours,\n\n                                                FRANCES EMILY WHITE.\n\n    1427 N. SIXTEENTH ST.\n\n    DR. SOZINSKEY:\n\n    DEAR DOCTOR:\u2014Many thanks. You ought to enlarge the article to\n    a little book. It interested me greatly. In a _bas-relief_ of\n    myself by St. Gaudens, New York, he has set beside the head the\n    caduceus and twin serpents as symbolical; at all events, they\n    will symbolize my relation to snakes.\n\n                              Yours truly,\n\n                                                      WEIR MITCHELL.\n\n    1524 WALNUT ST., PHILA.\n\n                                        PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 23, 1884.\n\n    DR. T. S. SOZINSKEY:\n\n    MY DEAR DOCTOR:\u2014I write to thank you for a copy of your\n    interesting and instructive paper on \u201cMedical Symbolism.\u201d In\n    Fergusson, on \u201cTree and Serpent Worship,\u201d which you quote,\n    you can readily trace the connection between the emblems\n    of religion and medicine. I recognize that, as priest and\n    physician were once the same person, medicine is yet justly\n    termed \u201cthe divine art.\u201d It affords me much pleasure to see\n    your studious interest in your profession.\n\n                              Yours truly,\n\n                                                     HENRY H. SMITH.\n\n\n\n\nTABLE OF CONTENTS.\n\n\n                                                             PAGE\n\n    DEDICATION,                                               iii\n\n    PREFACE,                                                    v\n\n    BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF T. S. SOZINSKEY, M.D., PH.D.,      vii\n\n    COMMENDATORY LETTERS,                                      ix\n\n                           CHAPTER I.\n\n    REMARKS ON THE MEANING OF SYMBOLS,                          1\n\n                          CHAPTER II.\n\n    THE SERPENTINE GOD OF MEDICINE AT ROME,                     5\n\n                          CHAPTER III.\n\n    THE \u00c6SCULAPIAN SERPENT,                                    13\n\n                          CHAPTER IV.\n\n    THE EPIDAURIAN ORACLE,                                     17\n\n                           CHAPTER V.\n\n    ASCLEPIA AND THE ASCLEPIADES,                              23\n\n                          CHAPTER VI.\n\n    THE GRECIAN GOD OF MEDICINE,                               31\n\n                          CHAPTER VII.\n\n    THE IMAGE OF \u00c6SCULAPIUS,                                   45\n\n                         CHAPTER VIII.\n\n    THE \u00c6SCULAPIAN STAFF AND SERPENT,                          49\n\n                          CHAPTER IX.\n\n    \u00c6SCULAPIUS AND THE SERPENT,                                59\n\n                           CHAPTER X.\n\n    VARIOUS ATTRIBUTES OF \u00c6SCULAPIUS,                          83\n\n                          CHAPTER XI.\n\n    GODS ANALOGOUS TO \u00c6SCULAPIUS,                              89\n\n                          CHAPTER XII.\n\n    THE PINE-CONE AS AN ATTRIBUTE OF \u00c6SCULAPIUS,              111\n\n                         CHAPTER XIII.\n\n    DIBBARA, A GOD OF PESTILENCE,                             119\n\n                          CHAPTER XIV.\n\n    HYGEIA, THE GODDESS OF HEALTH,                            123\n\n                          CHAPTER XV.\n\n    MEDICAL TALISMANS,                                        129\n\n                          CHAPTER XVI.\n\n    MEDICAL AMULETS,                                          137\n\n                         CHAPTER XVII.\n\n    PHARMACISTS\u2019 SYMBOLS,                                     149\n\n                         CHAPTER XVIII.\n\n    MISCELLANEOUS MEDICAL SYMBOLS,                            155\n\n                          CHAPTER XIX.\n\n    MEDICAL SYMBOLISM IN PRACTICE,                            161\n\n                          CHAPTER XX.\n\n    THE PENTACLE,                                             165\n\n\n\n\nMEDICAL SYMBOLISM.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nREMARKS ON THE MEANING OF SYMBOLS.\n\n\nA symbol is an illustration of a thing which, to use a poetic phrase,\nis \u201cnot what it seems.\u201d When a familiar object, or figure of any kind,\nfrom some cause or other, has attached to it a meaning different from\nthe obvious and ordinary one, it is symbolic. Thus, if one take a\npoppy-head to convey the idea of sleep, it is a symbol; one may regard\nit as symbolic of sleep, or, if he choose, of Hypnos (Somnus), the god\nof sleep. The illustration on the next page will afford a still more apt\nexample. To the eye, it appears to be simply a partly coiled serpent\nresting on a pedestal. That is, in truth, what it is. But, regarded from\nthe stand-point of the student of medical symbolism, it has another and\nvery different signification. Before such a figure many a human being,\ndiseased and suffering, has bowed in reverence and piously offered to it\npetitions for relief; to many a noble Greek and haughty Roman, indeed, to\ngenerations of such, it was a god, the great god of \u201cthe divine art,\u201d as\nmedicine was often beautifully called in ancient times. The serpent is\nthe most important of medical symbols.\n\nIn any composite figure the elements of it are spoken of as _attributes_;\nand of these some are _essential_ and some _conventional_. The essential\nones only are, strictly speaking, symbols. Thus, in a representation of\nthe Goddess of Liberty, the cap is not a symbol; it is a conventional\nattribute. Says the learned and distinguished historian of ancient\nart, C. O. M\u00fcller, \u201cThe essence of the symbol consists in the supposed\nreal connections of the sign with the thing signified.\u201d[4] In some\nauthoritative works, as, for instance, that of Fairholt,[5] the serpent\nin medical art is said not to be a symbol; but this is not true if it be\ntaken to represent the god of medicine, which, as I have already stated,\nwas done by both Greeks and Romans. Evidently, if taken as of this narrow\nmeaning, there are not many comprehensive medical symbols. But I will\ntake it in a wider sense; I will take it to mean any mystic figure or any\nkind of attribute. In doing so I do no more than Fairholt holds should\nbe done. Referring to the words _symbol_, _image_, and _allegorical\nfigure_ as well as _attribute_, he says, \u201cTheir shades of difference\nare so slight that it would be most convenient to regard them all under\nthe general term _symbol_.\u201d[6] I may add these remarks of Tiele: \u201cA\nsymbol is a simple or complex thought clothed in a sensuous form. A myth\nis a phenomenon of nature represented as the act of a person. Usually\nsymbols originate in myths, and in every case mythology is antecedent to\nsymbolism.\u201d[7] There are many symbols, however, which never had anything\nto do with myths, as will become evident later.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 1.\u2014A MEDICAL SYMBOL.]\n\nIn the wide sense in which I propose to use it, symbol is almost or quite\nsynonymous with _emblem_, as popularly used. Mackenzie[8] and other\nauthorities, however, state that the word emblem is properly applicable\nonly to a mystic object or figure of two or more parts. Thus, it is\nmore correct to speak of \u201ca skull and cross-bones\u201d as emblematic than\nsymbolic of a poison or of death. Again, while a serpent might properly\nbe called a symbol, one in connection with a staff is an emblem. In this\nrestricted sense, emblem is closely allied in meaning to _allegory_.\nBut in an allegorical representation most of the elements of it are apt\nto be symbolic, and beauty of the whole is a consideration. The great\nEpidaurian representation of \u00c6sculapius is an example. A simple image or\n_statue_ is essentially a symbol.\n\nI need hardly say that any figure may or may not be a symbol; but a mere\n_figure_ is simply a representation of any object regarded as void of any\nother than its ordinary meaning. A conventional representation of any\nidea may be nothing more than a figure. In this sense, it is sometimes\ncalled an _ideograph_.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nTHE SERPENTINE GOD OF MEDICINE AT ROME.\n\n\nAs I have already intimated, the god of medicine\u2014that is,\n\u00c6sculapius[9]\u2014was not only on familiar terms, so to speak, with the\nserpent, but at times given a serpentine form. Pausanias expressly\ninforms us that he often appeared in such singular shape.[10] The visitor\nto imperial Rome about two thousand years ago saw this divinity in\nreptilian guise an object of high regard and worship. It is worth while\nto enter into a short study of the matter.\n\nNow, at the outset, I may observe that it is a noteworthy fact that in\ntheir regard for medical men the early Greeks and others contrasted\nremarkably with the Romans. The Greeks would seem to have duly prized\nthe class. One has but to turn to Homer to find evidence of the fact. A\npassage suggested by Machaon\u2019s splendid exercise of his beneficent art,\nspoken by Idomeneus when the \u201coffspring of the healing god\u201d was wounded\nby a dart fired by \u201cthe spouse of Helen\u201d (Paris), and \u201ctrembling Greece\nfor her physician fear\u2019d,\u201d runs:\u2014\n\n    \u201cA wise physician skill\u2019d our wounds to heal,\n    Is more than armies to the public weal.\u201d[11]\n\nCowper translates this interesting couplet more literally than Pope:\u2014\n\n    \u201cOne so skill\u2019d in medicine and to free\n    The inherent barb is worth a multitude.\u201d\n\nThis is a very noble tribute to the physician; in fact, I know of but few\nas good, among them being the one in \u201cEcclesiasticus\u201d which reads: \u201cThe\nskill of the physician shall lift up his head and in the sight of great\nmen he shall be praised.\u201d[12] The latter is Hebr\u00e6o-Egyptian in origin,\nand its date is about two hundred years before our era. The early Romans\ndid not look on doctors with any such favor.[13]\n\nIt is a well-known fact that the art of medicine was never very\nenthusiastically or successfully cultivated by the Romans. It was not\nuntil a comparatively late date that medical practitioners existed\namong them at all. Pliny has left us some interesting notes on the\nmatter. After the statement that many nations have gotten along without\nphysicians, he says: \u201cSuch, for instance, was the Roman people for a\nperiod of more than six hundred years; a people, too, which has never\nshown itself slow to adopt all useful arts, and which even welcomed the\nmedical art with avidity until, after a fair experience of it, there was\nfound good reason to condemn it.\u201d[14] He himself was not a great friend\nof it.\n\nCato, who died in the year of the city of Rome 605, said,\nauthoritatively: \u201cThey (the Greeks) have conspired among themselves\nto murder all barbarians with their medicine, a profession which they\nexercise for lucre, in order that they may win our confidence and\ndespatch us all the more easily. I forbid you to have anything to do with\nphysicians.\u201d[15] Notwithstanding this, the imperious old Roman had not\na personal dislike to taking medicine; \u201cfar from it, by Hercules,\u201d says\nPliny, \u201cfor he subjoins an account of the medical prescriptions by the\naid of which he had ensured to himself and his wife a ripe old age.\u201d[16]\n\nIt appears that the first physician who exercised his profession at Rome\nwas \u201cArchagathus, the son of Lysanias, who came over from Peloponnessus\nin the year of the city 335.\u201d He was kindly welcomed, and, from his\nspecial line of practice, was called \u201cVulnerarius;\u201d but, from cruelty\ndisplayed \u201cin cutting and searing his patients, he brought the art and\nphysicians into disrepute.\u201d[17] It is this experience to which Pliny\nrefers in the foregoing quotation.\n\nThere is reason to believe that the Romans never regarded medicine as\nan art appreciatively. They have transmitted to posterity little that\nis original and valuable. Besides what is found in Pliny\u2019s work, the\nproduction of Celsus[18] is about all that calls for special mention,\nand it is possible that the latter, as well as the former, was only a\ncompiler. Pliny significantly says: \u201cThe art of medicine at the present\ntime even teaches us in numerous instances to have recourse to the\noracles for aid.\u201d[19] He lived from 23 to 79 A.D.\n\nThe Roman people had no special god of medicine until the year 292\nB.C. In the preceding year, the prevalence of a pestilence caused much\nconsternation. This led to a consultation of the Delphian Oracle, or,\naccording to Livy (see page 9), the Sibylline Books, as to what should be\ndone, and the command of \u201cthe Delphic Oracle, or of the Sibylline Books,\u201d\nto use the language of an authoritative work,[20] was given, to send an\nembassy to procure the aid of the Grecian god of healing, \u00c6sculapius.\n\nThe story of the bringing of \u00c6sculapius to Rome, like that of the\nbringing of Cybele from Pessinus in Galatia, is an interesting one, and\nmust be known if one would fully appreciate the fact of the god being\ngiven the serpentine form, the serpent being generally regarded as only\nan attribute of him at his chief seat, the great Epidaurian Asclepion, or\nTemple of Health. It is graphically told by Ovid.\n\nOvid begins his poem[21] with an invocation to the \u201cmelodious maids of\nPindus;\u201d and, addressing them, continues:\u2014\n\n    \u201cSay, whence the isle which Tiber flows around,\n    Its altars with a heavenly stranger grac\u2019d,\n    And in our shrines the God of Physic plac\u2019d?\u201d\n\nWe are then told that\u2014\n\n    \u201cA wasting plague infected Latium\u2019s skies.\n    ...\n    In vain were human remedies apply\u2019d.\n    Weary\u2019d with death, they seek celestial aid,\n    And visit Ph\u0153bus in his Delphic shade.\u201d\n\nThe reply of the Oracle is this:\u2014\n\n    \u201cRelief must be implor\u2019d and succour won\n    Not from Apollo, but Apollo\u2019s son.\n    My son to Latium borne shall bring redress;\n    Go with good omens, and expect success.\u201d\n\nThe Senate appointed an embassy to carry out the order:\u2014\n\n    \u201cWho sail to Epidaurus\u2019 neighbouring land.\u201d\n\nTo it the god (\u00c6sculapius) is represented as saying:\u2014\n\n    \u201cI come and leave my shrine.\n    This serpent view, that with ambitious play\n    My staff encircles, mark him every way;\n    His form, though larger, nobler, I\u2019ll assume,\n    And, changed as gods should be, bring aid to Rome.\u201d\n\nIn due time \u201cthe salutary serpent,[22] the god, reached the Island of the\nTiber and assumed again his form divine\u201d:\u2014\n\n    \u201cAnd now no more the drooping city mourns;\n    Joy is again restor\u2019d and health returns.\u201d\n\nThere is little or no reason to doubt that there was really a formal\nbringing of \u00c6sculapius to Rome, a cosmopolitan city which, indeed, as\nGibbon states without much exaggeration, bestowed its freedom \u201con all\nthe gods of mankind.\u201d[23] Livy, the historian, speaks of the matter as\nfollows:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe many prosperous events of the year (459) were scarcely sufficient to\nafford consolation for one calamity, a pestilence, which afflicted both\nthe city and country and caused a prodigious mortality. To discover what\nend or what remedy was appointed by the gods for that calamity, the Books\nwere consulted, and there it was found that \u00c6sculapius must be brought\nto Rome from Epidaurus. However, as the Consuls had full employment\nin the wars, no farther steps were taken in that business during this\nyear, except the performing of a supplication to \u00c6sculapius of one day\u2019s\ncontinence.\u201d[24] Elsewhere[25] he says that the god was brought the\nfollowing year,\u2014that is, A.U.C. 460, or 292 B.C.\n\nThe Island of the Tiber (_Insula Tiberina_, now _Isola Tiberina_), the\n\u201c_inter duos pontes_\u201d of the early centuries of our era, where \u00c6sculapius\nwas worshipped, and which was sometimes called by his name (_Insula\n\u00c6sculapii_), is within the limits of the city of Rome. According to\ntradition, it originated from alluvial accumulations within the period\nof Roman history.[26] It is rather remarkable that, excepting the one at\nthe mouth (_Insula Sacra_, now _Isola Sacra_), there is no other along\nthe whole course of the famous river. It is ship-shaped, and quite small\nin size, being only about a quarter of a mile in length,[27] and has been\ncalled \u201cSan Bartolomeo,\u201d from the church which has long occupied the site\nof the ancient Temple of Health.[28] Mr. Davies speaks of it at length in\nhis interesting book. After an account of the origin of the worship of\n\u00c6sculapius on it, he says:\u2014\n\n\u201cIt was in commemoration of this event that the island was fashioned in\nthe form of a ship. Huge blocks of travertine and peperino still remain\nabout the prow (pointing down the stream), imitating on a grand scale\nthe forms of the planks, upon which are chiseled the figure of a serpent\ntwined around a rod, and, farther down, the head of an ox. A temple was\nraised to \u00c6sculapius, in which his statue was placed, which probably\nstood in the fore part of the simulated vessel, hospitals for the sick\noccupying the sides, a tall column or obelisk rising in the midst to\nrepresent a mast. Temples were also dedicated to Jupiter and Faunus.[29]\nTo these were added a prison in the days of Tiberius.\u201d[30]\n\nWhether the establishment of the worship of the healing divinity on the\nisland at Rome was brought about by chance, or deliberately, is not\nvery clear. Pliny would seem to think that it was elsewhere at first\nwhen he says, \u201cThe Temple of \u00c6sculapius, even after he was received as\na divinity, was built without the city and afterward on an island.\u201d[31]\nThe abhorrence of the people for physicians is given as the reason for\nisolating the institution. The noble Romans had no love for a class that\nmade a trade of curing the sick, enriching themselves off the misfortunes\nof their fellow-men; they were shocked, says Pliny, \u201cmore particularly\nthat man should pay so dear for the enjoyment of life.\u201d[32] There may\nhave been other and better reasons. The Greeks themselves placed their\nasclepia in rural and often insular places. Thus, the great Epidaurian\nAsclepion was in a secluded vale, and two very celebrated ones, those of\nCos and Rhodes, were, as the names indicate, on islands. It is needless\nto say that there are excellent sanitary reasons for placing sanatory\ninstitutions in the country, and especially on insular sites. It will be\na long step in the right direction when we somewhat unwise moderns cease\nto have our medical institutions within the built-up parts of our cities\nand towns, and treat the sick, especially those affected with contagious\ndiseases, at a distance from the well.\n\nDevotion to the serpentine healer appears to have lingered long in\nsunny Italy.[33] A bronze serpent in the basilica of St. Ambrose was\nworshipped as late as the year 1001, but the precise import of it is not\nknown. Referring to it, De Gubernatis says: \u201cSome say that it was the\nserpent of \u00c6sculapius, others that of Moses, others that it was an image\nof Christ. For us it is enough to remark here that it was a mythical\nserpent before which Milanese mothers brought their children when they\nsuffered from worms in order to relieve them, as we learn from the\ndepositions of the visit of San Carlo Borromeo to this basilica.\u201d[34] San\nCarlo suppressed the superstitious practice.[35]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nTHE \u00c6SCULAPIAN SERPENT.\n\n\nIt is not to be presumed that many in our day would seriously believe\nthat \u00c6sculapius assumed the form of a large serpent, in the famous\nlegendary voyage to Rome; but it is hardly to be doubted, as I have\nalready remarked, that there was actually a serpent brought from\nEpidaurus on the occasion. It is very probable that the Roman embassy\ndeliberately brought one with them; still, the coming of the reptile on\nboard the ship may have been accidental.[36] The latter was the case,\naccording to one tradition. At any rate, there was sufficient ground\non which a superstitious people could easily construct a mythical\nsuperstructure to please their fancy.\n\nThe assumption of the form of a serpent by the god of medicine was not an\nextraordinary thing, according to ancient beliefs. Plenty of instances\nmight be cited. I may give one. Alexander the Great was believed by many\nto have been not the son of Philip, but of Jupiter Ammon, who appeared to\nOlympias in reptilian shape. Plutarch tells the story. It is amusingly\nrelated of Philip that \u201che lost one of his eyes as he applied it to the\nchink of the door, when he saw the god, in the form of a serpent, in\nhis wife\u2019s embraces.\u201d[37] The ability to take on at pleasure any animal\nor other form was regarded as one of the distinguishing prerogatives of\ndivinity.\n\nTaking it for granted, then, that there was really a serpent transferred\nfrom Epidaurus to Rome, which was regarded as \u00c6sculapius, the interesting\nquestion arises, of what species was it? A very conclusive answer may be\ngiven.\n\nIt is known that at the Epidaurian Asclepion a species of serpent existed\nin considerable numbers by permission. After stating that all serpents,\n\u201cbut particularly those of a more yellow color, are considered as sacred\nto \u00c6sculapius, and are gentle and harmless toward men,\u201d Pausanias says:\n\u201cThey are alone nourished in the land of the Epidaurians; and I find\nthat the same circumstance takes place in other regions.\u201d[38] Here,\nthen, is proof that there was a species of serpent which deserved to be\ncharacterized as \u00c6sculapian.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 2.\u2014THE \u00c6SCULAPIAN SERPENT.]\n\nIt being reasonably certain that only one kind of serpent \u201cwas nourished\nin the land of the Epidaurians,\u201d and regarded as sacred to \u00c6sculapius,\nthe following passage from Pliny is interesting: \u201cThe \u00c6sculapian snake\nwas first brought to Rome from Epidaurus, but at the present day it is\nvery commonly reared, in our houses even; so much so, indeed, that, if\nthe breed were not kept down by the frequent conflagrations, it would\nbe impossible to make head against the rapid increase of them.\u201d[39]\nIt is evident from this statement that the serpent in question was\nnot venomous, that its presence was prized, and that people would not\nwilfully kill it.\n\nNow, a pretty species of oviparous, non-venomous serpent, still common\nin Italy, is believed to be the \u201c\u00c6sculapian snake\u201d of Pliny, called\n_Paroas_ by Greek writers.[40] I have examined a number of specimens.\nSeveral are to be seen in the museum of the Academy of Natural Sciences,\nPhiladelphia. It has been described by Shaw under the name of _Coluber\n\u00c6sculapii_, but it is now often called _Elaphis \u00c6sculapii_. A cut of it\nis given in Brehm\u2019s great popular work,[41] which is very good, except\nthat it gives one the impression that the animal is decidedly large. The\n\u00c6sculapian serpent is comparatively small, being from three to four and\none-half feet in length, and about as thick as a stout walking-cane. It\nis orange-brown above, or, as Shaw puts it, \u201crufous colour on the upper\nparts, more or less deep in different individuals.\u201d[42] Beneath it is of\na straw color. The scales of the back are oval and carinated, and those\nof the sides are smooth. The tapering tail measures about nine inches.\nMovement takes place through vertical waves or swellings. It is very\nactive and can climb trees with facility. When attacked it will defend\nitself; but it is by nature gentle and is easily tamed.\n\nIn his brief description of it, Cuvier follows Shaw. He adds: \u201cIt is that\nwhich the ancients have represented in their statues of \u00c6sculapius; and\nit is probable that the serpent of Epidaurus was of this species. (The\n_Coluber \u00c6sculapii_ of Linn\u00e6us[43] is of a totally different species, and\nbelongs to America.)\u201d[44]\n\nThe \u00c6sculapian serpent is closely related to the ringed snake (_Natrix\ntorquata_), the only British member of the family; and the common black\nsnake (_Coluber constrictor_) of America is of the same genus; but\nit should not be classed, as was done by Linn\u00e6us, with the decidedly\nvenomous viperine serpent, the _Viper communis_, or _Pelias berus_, of\nwhich Figuier says: \u201cIt is not improbable that it is the _echis_ (\u03b5\u03c7\u03b9\u03c2)\nof Aristotle and the _vipera_ of Virgil, as it is the _manasso_ of the\nItalians, the _adder_ of the country-people of England and Scotland, and\nthe _vip\u00e8re_ of France. It is found in all these countries and in Europe\ngenerally.\u201d[45]\n\nIn an article contributed to a medical journal[46] I have said, in\nreference to the \u00c6sculapian serpent, that it is the one \u201cwhich should\nalways be shown in medical symbolism.\u201d This would hardly be questioned by\nmany; yet I am disposed to think that the restriction is too exclusive.\nAnother species of coluber, the ur\u00e6us, or asp, has played a significant\nr\u00f4le, as a symbol of life and healing, especially in Egypt, as will be\nseen later. Our medical traditions, however, being mainly derived from\nthe Greeks, it would therefore seem but right that we should confine\nourselves very exclusively to the symbolism in use by them.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nTHE EPIDAURIAN ORACLE.\n\n\nIn speaking of the god of medicine at Rome, mention was made of\nEpidaurus, the original great seat of worship of \u00c6sculapius. In the\nPeloponnesian place of that name, in the district of Argolis, on the\nwestern shore of the Saronic Gulf, I will now pause a while; for here is\na spot of earth of special interest, dearer than Salerno, or even Cos, to\nevery lover of the annals, historical and legendary, of the healing art.\n\nVery different is Epidaurus now from what it was in other days; there\nhas been a change, and for the worse. Here was once the scene of teeming\nlife; the home of a people of culture and renown. It is not so at\npresent. As with many other parts of Greece, time has dealt harshly with\nEpidaurus. But for the ruins and the imperishable records we have of\nthem, one could find very little there worthy of much attention.\n\nIt is chiefly in the work of Pausanias, before mentioned, that the\ngreat medical institution of Epidaurus, the \u00c6sculapian Temple, with its\nauxiliaries, survives. This observing and inquisitive old Greek traveler\nhas left an interesting account of it. He lived in the second century of\nour era.\n\nThe ruins have been carefully studied and described by Mr. Leake.[47]\n\nUnder a commission from the Arch\u00e6ological Society of Athens, Mr.\nP. Kavvadias, in 1881 and forward to the present time (1885), has\nbeen making exploratory excavations, for full accounts of which the\n\u201cProceedings of the Society\u201d must be consulted.[48]\n\nAlthough the Asclepion was not within the town of Epidaurus, it was\ngenerally spoken of as part and parcel of the latter. Thus, Strabo\nsays: \u201cEpidaurus was a distinguished city, remarkable particularly on\naccount of the fame of \u00c6sculapius, who was supposed to cure every kind of\ndisease, and whose temple is crowded constantly with sick persons, and\nits walls covered with votive tablets, which are hung thereon and contain\naccounts of the cures in the same manner as is practiced at Cos and at\nTricca.\u201d[49] In the time of the Romans, the town was regarded as \u201clittle\nmore than the harbor\u201d[50] of the \u00c6sculapian Oracle. Still, at one time\nit was of considerable importance. Pausanias speaks favorably of it. In\nit there were statues of \u00c6sculapius and his reputed wife, Epione, and of\nDiana, Venus, and others. There were public accommodations for persons\ndying and lying-in women. This was necessary, because births and deaths\nwere not allowed to occur within the Sacred Grove. The exclusion was,\naccording to Pausanias, \u201cagreeable to a law which is established in the\nisland of Delos.\u201d[51]\n\nEpidaurus was open to intercourse with the Ph\u0153nicians and other peoples.\nIts citizens were enterprising. It is interesting to note that they\ncolonized the island of Cos.\n\nUnder the name of Pidhavro the ancient town remains in existence; but it\nis a mere hamlet of a few dozen families, most of which are engaged in\nraising vegetables for the Athenian market.\n\nProceeding in a southwesterly direction from the site of Epidaurus, one\ncomes, after a journey of about five Roman miles, to the location of the\nfamous Epidaurian Oracle of \u00c6sculapius. It is a little vale, bordered\nalmost all around with shrubbery-clad hills, notable among which are\nMounts Titthium, Cynortium, and Coryph\u00e6us, the first and second to the\nnorth, and the third to the southeast. At a little distance down it,\nflowing westerly and emptying into the river of Lessa, is a rivulet\nformed by two main branches, one of which springs from about Mount\nCoryph\u00e6us and traverses the sacred \u1f08\u03bb\u03c3\u03bf\u03c2, or Grove.\n\nTo the Sacred Grove, the name of Hierum, or, rather, Sto Hieron,[52] a\nsynonym, is applied. It is less than a mile in circumference. Within it\nare found remains of most of the structures which it formerly contained.\nIn the centre stood the Temple, or Sanctuary, of \u00c6sculapius; in the\nsoutheast, at the foot of Mount Coryph\u00e6us, the theatre,[53] which\nafforded accommodation for twelve thousand people, and which is one of\nthe finest ruins of ancient Grecian buildings; and southwest of the\ntemple was the place devoted to athletic games, the Stadium, to the\nnorth of which were the Cistrum and the Tholus, or circular cell, about\nthirty feet in circumference, which contained paintings and other works\nof art, and probably served as a place of reunion of the officials of the\nsanctuary, and for certain sacrifices and ceremonies. Water-pipes have\nbeen unearthed; and there are remnants of the peribolus, or enclosure,\nwhich, according to Leake, however, was present only on two sides, the\nsteep hills answering the purpose on the others. The somewhat remarkable\nstate of preservation of these ruins is largely due to the seclusion of\nthe place.\n\nOf course, the most notable building within the sacred grounds was the\nTemple.[54] This was the abode of the god; here was his oracle. His\nstatue was of great splendor and highly renowned. It was formed of ivory\nand gold\u2014chryselephantine\u2014and was by Thrasymedes, of Parus. \u00c6sculapius\nwas represented as a man somewhat advanced in life, but of attractive\npresence, seated on a throne. His hair and beard were given long, perhaps\ntoo long for an ideal physician.[55] In his left hand he held a staff,\nand the other he held over the head of a serpent. At his feet was the\nfigure of a dog. On the throne were wrought illustrations of the works\nof the Argive heroes. Bellerophon was shown in the act of slaying the\nChim\u00e6ra, and Perseus cutting off the head of Medusa.\n\nBesides the temple, the theatre, gymnasium, and other buildings mentioned\nabove, there were still others to meet the manifold needs of the numerous\nvisitors. As those who came to consult the oracle remained a night or\nlonger, there must have been an extensive dormitory. It is referred to\nby Pausanias.[56] Those, however, who approached the god, always, I\nbelieve, passed the night in the sanctuary.\n\nWhen at the height of its glory the Hierum was surely a place full of\nlife. Being the most famous sanatory retreat, multitudes flocked to it\nfrom all parts of Greece and beyond. Many who came were, doubtless,\ninvalids, but likely far more could not be classed as such. In fact,\nthis \u00c6sculapian Grove, although mainly a medical institution, a sort of\nhospital, might reasonably be taken as a prototype of modern popular\nhealth resorts.\n\nThe glory of the Epidaurian Oracle was not short-lived. In the year 292\nB.C., the time when the Roman embassy paid the historic visit, it was\nvery great; and five centuries later\u2014that is, in the time of Pausanias\u2014it\nhad not passed away; the worship of the serpentine divinity had not then\nceased.\n\nWith years the oracle accumulated riches, so that it became noted for\nits treasures. When, in the year 167 B.C., it was visited by L. \u00c6milius\nPaulus, after his conquest of Macedonia, it was rich in gifts presented\nby those who had obtained relief there from their afflictions. A century\nand a half later many of the valuable offerings had disappeared.\n\nThe visitors to the great oracle in search of health placed themselves\nunder the care of the asclepiades, or disciples of the god. A special\ncourse of regimen (treatment) was followed. It is said that it was\ndirected by \u00c6sculapius, through dreams,\u2014not necessarily a truth. The plan\npursued was more or less scientific and free from superstition. Mr. Leake\nrather ungraciously remarks that the advisors, being \u201cequally dexterous\nas priests and physicians, provided themselves with resources in either\ncapacity, which they could turn to the benefit of their patients\u2019\ninfirmities and their own profit.\u201d[57] The rules were decidedly strict.\nRecords of patients were preserved, and the tablets on which they were\nplaced were hung up in the temple and elsewhere. Some of those surviving\nfrom the stel\u00e6, mentioned by Pausanias,[58] have been unearthed recently\nby Mr. Kavvadias. They are mostly statements of miraculous cures.[59]\n\nFamous and immensely popular as the Epidaurian Oracle was, it cannot\nbe said to have had notable natural advantages in its favor. The site\nwas not one of the best, being low and hill-bounded,\u2014conditions closely\nrelated to unhealthy states of humidity and heat of the atmosphere. The\nsupply of water was not good, dependence having to be placed at times on\ncisterns. The locations of many other, but less noted, asclepia, were\ncertainly far more sanatory. At Cos there was pure, mild sea-air; and,\nof those in the mountains or by fountains, each had one or more special\nnatural attractions. Indeed, there could seemingly be few much worse\nsites than this close little Epidaurian valley, without even a mineral\nspring, or, in fact, a good spring of ordinary water to recommend it.\nBut, greater than any one, or all climatic or other influences in power\nto attract the multitude, was the belief that at his birthplace and\nprimary seat and oracle the influence of the god of medicine could be\nmost effectively brought to bear to remove disease and restore health. As\nin this case, a pleasing superstition may work wonders.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nASCLEPIA AND THE ASCLEPIADES.\n\n\nMany asclepia, or temples of health, were in time established throughout\nGreece and her colonies and elsewhere. A recent writer states that at\nleast three hundred and twenty are known \u201cto have existed in antiquity;\nso that every town of importance must have had its sanctuary.\u201d[60] In\nsuccess and length of existence they, of course, varied greatly. The\none at Epidaurus has been spoken of, and others of great celebrity were\nthose of Tricca, Cnidus, and Cos, to say nothing of some only a little\nless deserving of mention, such as those at Rhodes, Pergamus, Carthage,\nAthens,[61] and Rome.\n\nThe asclepion at Tricca, in Thessaly, was probably started by the sons of\n\u00c6sculapius, Machaon and Podalirius. At any rate, according to Homer, they\nwere attendants there. This was enough to bring it into repute, but its\nsituation in the mountains was much in its favor as a popular sanatory\nresort.\n\nThe Coan and Cnidian asclepia were favorably located; the former on the\nisland of the name, which Pliny speaks of as \u201cflourishing and powerful in\nthe highest degree and consecrated to \u00c6sculapius,\u201d[62] and the latter not\nfar distant, on a site decidedly maritime, in Asia Minor. These temples\nwere both very distinguished, and a degree of rivalry prevailed between\nthem. In them there was undoubtedly much highly creditable medical\nknowledge in exercise. The same was probably the case in most, or perhaps\nall, others, especially in later times; but it is in respect to those\nonly that we have indubitable evidence of the fact. Of the two schools,\nthe adherents of the Cnidian paid special attention to the symptoms of\nindividual cases, and avoided, as much as possible, powerful cathartics,\nbleeding, and other active means of cure.\n\nWhatever may have been the success of the various asclepia, institutions\nwhich were finally blotted out in the early part of the fourth century by\nConstantine, the first Christian emperor,[63] that of Cos was destined\nto make the greatest impress on the medicine of the future. It was the\ngood fortune of this institution to have in connection with it, at the\nacme of its career, a great author as well as physician. Hippocrates, a\nnative of the island, rendered the fame of the Coan school imperishable,\nand gave to his fellow-men throughout the world, in all time to come, a\nlegacy of incalculable value. Through this early and great medical writer\nhis _alma mater_ has been made, in a manner, that of the medical man of\nall ages. From Cos sprang forth at the touch of a humble man, afterward\ncalled appreciatively \u201cthe divine old man,\u201d a mass of medical knowledge,\nwonderfully pure and good, which constitutes the main body of the real\nmedical science of our own day.\n\nAn asclepion[64] consisted essentially of a building with a more or\nless hygienical site, usually in the country and near a fountain,[65]\nsometimes a mineral one, in which the arts of healing were practiced\nby priests or disciples of \u00c6sculapius, called asclepiades. In all, the\ninfluence of the god was generally believed to be an essential factor;\nand hence in each an image of him was to be found. But the fully-equipped\ninstitution had many appliances, as has been shown in the account given\nof the one at Epidaurus. Arrangements for exercises, baths, and other\nmeans which were brought to bear to restore people to health were duly\nprovided and were in many instances elaborate.\n\nThe asclepiades claimed that they were descended directly from the god of\nwhom they were the disciples. They were not, at any time, mere priests;\nthat is, ministers of religion. Indeed, it has been asserted that \u201cthere\nis no sign in the Homeric poems of the subordination of medicine to\nreligion.\u201d[66]\n\nThe asclepiades constituted a special class, and they were oath-bound\nto preserve the mysteries of the art from the uninitiated. The oath is\npreserved in the Hippocratic Collection,[67] and is usually called by his\nname. It begins thus: \u201cI swear by Apollo, the physician, and \u00c6sculapius,\nand Health, and All-Heal,[68] and all the gods and goddesses that,\naccording to my ability and judgment, I will keep this oath and this\nstipulation.\u201d In it occurs this passage: \u201cI will follow that system of\nregimen[69] which, according to my ability and judgment, I consider for\nthe benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is deleterious and\nmischievous.\u201d Here is another: \u201cWith purity and with holiness I will pass\nmy life and practice my art.\u201d Cutting for the stone is left to those who\nmake a special business of it. What is learned about patients, in the\nexercise of the art, which should be kept secret is not to be divulged.\nMr. Adams well says that it is most honorable to the profession that\nso ancient a document pertaining to it as this, \u201cinstead of displaying\nnarrow-minded and exclusive selfishness, inculcates a generous line of\nconduct, and enjoins an observance of the rules of propriety and of the\nlaws of domestic morality.\u201d[70]\n\nIt has been said, in a learned article[71] on ancient medicine, that \u201cthe\nasclepiad\u00e6 of Greece were the true originators\u201d of scientific medicine.\nThis claim might be questioned, but it is, doubtless, in the main just.\nCertainly all physicians were not connected with asclepia; and in later\ntimes the asclepiades proper were avoided by the more intelligent and\nrational.\n\nUnfortunately, the records of the practice of the asclepiades have been\nalmost entirely lost. This is to be regretted, and more especially\nbecause what is preserved is of a decidedly high order of merit.[72]\nHowever, it is probable that at least the _cr\u00eame_ of the whole has been\nhanded down to us by Hippocrates.\n\nIt seems certain that in the first \u201cProrrhetics\u201d and the \u201cPr\u00e6notiones\nCoacae,\u201d which are transmitted to us in the Hippocratic Collection, we\nhave fragments and excerpts from the histories of diseases and cures\nwhich were formerly found on the votive tablets of the Coan Temple. From\nthese records Hippocrates drew largely in composing his highly valuable\n\u201cBook of Prognostics.\u201d In reference to the matter Adams says: \u201cIt is\nas clear as the light of day that Hippocrates composed this work from\nthem.\u201d[73]\n\nIt is more than probable that, except for a short time at first, the\nsystem of treatment pursued by the asclepiades varied within wide limits;\nand it is equally certain that the superstitious element lessened as time\npassed. Between the principles of practice of \u00c6sculapius and those of\nHippocrates[74] there is a very wide difference. Those of the former will\nbe given later; but of those of the latter I may say here that they were\nessentially scientific.[75] To Hippocrates every disease had a natural\ncause, and was to be cured by natural means. He was wont \u201cto consult\nNature herself about Nature,\u201d as Bacon has somewhere wisely advised.\nHe did not attribute any morbid condition to any spiritual power, good\nor bad, and hence in his practice did not resort to conjuration or any\nrelated means of cure. Even of epilepsy, the so-called \u201csacred disease,\u201d\nhe said: \u201cIt is thus with regard to the disease called sacred: It appears\nto me to be nowise more divine nor more sacred than other diseases, but\nhas a natural cause from which it originates like other affections.\u201d And\nagain: \u201cMen regard its nature and cause as divine, from ignorance and\nwonder.\u201d[76] As regards holding disease to be divinely inflicted, he very\nproperly remarks: \u201cI do not count it a worthy opinion to hold that the\nbody of man is polluted by God.\u201d[77]\n\nNot only in the principles of medicine, but in its practice, Hippocrates\nwas wonderfully sound, even when judged from the stand-point of the art\nin our day. In truth, for extent and profundity of medical knowledge and\nphilosophy, between him and what modern would one think of instituting\na comparison? Sydenham has been likened to him; but, although I am an\nadmirer of the English physician, I do not hesitate to say that he was\nneither in breadth nor depth any such man as the Coan. As a writer on the\nprevention and cure of disease, Hippocrates remains _facile princeps_.\n\nLet it not be hastily supposed that my admiration for Hippocrates is\nunreasonably great. His works are truly a surprise to even the well-read\nmodern. Very many of the so-called discoveries of recent times may be\nlearned by turning to them. I speak advisedly. I will cite instances:\u2014\n\nThus, of the treatment of open sores, he says: \u201cIn these cases no part\nis to be exposed to the air.\u201d Dressings of \u201cwine and oil\u201d and \u201cpitched\ncerate[78]\u201d are directed to be used.\n\nAgain, in treating fractures, in connection with certain splints, he\nadvises that \u201ca soft, consistent, and clean cerate should be rubbed\ninto the folds of the bandage;\u201d[79] and he says, \u201cIf you see that the\nbones are properly adjusted by the first dressing, and that there is no\ntroublesome pruritus in the part, nor any reason to suspect ulceration,\nyou may allow the arm to remain bandaged in the splints until after the\nlapse of more than twenty days.\u201d[80]\n\nStill again, in regard to the reduction of a dislocation at the\nhip-joint, he says, \u201cIn some the thigh is reduced with no preparation,\nwith slight extension, directed by the hands, and with slight movement;\nand in some the reduction is effected by bending the limb at the joint\nand making rotation.\u201d[81]\n\nIn the three preceding paragraphs we have the practical side of the germ\ntheory of disease, the permanent dressing of fractures, and the reduction\nof dislocations by manipulation.\n\nI might go on and recount numerous other matters alleged to be new, and\nof which we hear much; but it is not necessary. I may add, however, a few\nitems of interest:\u2014\n\n\u201cBleed,\u201d says the old Greek, \u201cin the acute affections, if the disease\nappears strong, and if the patients be in the vigor of life, and if they\nhave strength.\u201d Has any modern spoken more wisely on the subject?[82]\n\nHere is a statement worthy of the attention of unbalanced theorists\nof our day: In fevers and pneumonia, heat \u201cis not the sole cause of\nmischief.\u201d[83]\n\nHe gives directions for the use of effusions with \u201cwater of various\ntemperatures\u201d in \u201ccases of pneumonia,\u201d of \u201cardent fevers,\u201d and of\nother diseases. This treatment, he thinks, \u201csuits better with cases of\npneumonia than in ardent fevers.\u201d[84]\n\nIn that inimitable book, his \u201cAphorisms,\u201d it is said: \u201cIn general,\ndiseases are cured by their contraries.\u201d There is no exclusive allopathy\nor hom\u0153opathy, or dogma of any kind, in that statement; it is the\nsentiment of a scientific physician.\n\nMedicine was evidently far advanced in the days of Hippocrates;[85] and\nhe was certainly a learned and sensible practitioner of it, even the\n\u201cPrince of Physicians,\u201d as Galen, I think, somewhere characterizes him,\nas well as one who did much to make it what he pronounced it himself to\nbe, namely, \u201cof all arts the most noble.\u201d[86]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nTHE GRECIAN GOD OF MEDICINE.\n\n\nDuring most of the earlier part of their history it is safe to say the\nGreeks regarded Apollo as their main god of medicine. Being possessed\nof the eminent qualities of a sun-god, replacing Helios as such, and\nboth mighty and popular, this was to be expected. Nothing could be more\nnatural than to accord to a deification of the orb of day a direct\nconcern with matters pertaining to life and death.[87] Who so blind and\nstupid as not to see and know that all vital activity is intimately\nconnected with the presence and movements (apparent) of this great light-\nand heat-producing heavenly body!\n\nIn an old Chaldean hymn the power of the sun over health and disease is\nrecognized. He is petitioned to relieve a patient. The petitioner, after\nsaying that \u201cthe great lord, Hea, had sent him,\u201d continues:\u2014\n\n    \u201cThou at thy coming, cure the race of man;\n    Cause a ray of health to shine upon him;\n    Cure his disease.\u201d[88]\n\nHowever, the reader of Homer is well aware that medical affairs were\nregarded by the Greeks as subject to the will of Ph\u0153bus. The epidemic\nwhich affected the Grecian forces, spoken of in the beginning of his\ngreat work, was held to be caused by the god. Being moved to anger by the\nwords of his daughter-robbed priest\u2014\n\n    \u201cLatona\u2019s son a dire contagion spread\n    And heap\u2019d the camp with mountains of the dead.\u201d[89]\n\nChryses, having received the maiden[90] back from her kingly\nabductor,[91] then addressed Apollo again, saying, among other things:\u2014\n\n    \u201cIf fir\u2019d to vengeance at thy priest\u2019s request,\n    Thy direful darts inflict the raging pest,\n    Once more attend! Avert the wasteful woe\n    And smile propitious and unbend thy bow.\u201d[92]\n\nThe prayer was heard and answered as desired.\n\nSurgical as well as purely medical aid was sought and received from\nApollo. Thus, when the Lycian chief, Sarpedon, was killed, Glaucus,\nhimself sorely wounded and unable to protect his friend\u2019s remains,\npetitioned the \u201cgod of health,\u201d the \u201cgod of every healing art,\u201d and\n\n    \u201cApollo heard; and suppliant as he stood,\n    His heavenly hand restrain\u2019d the flux of blood;\n    He drew the dolours from the wounded part,\n    And breath\u2019d a spirit in his rising heart.\u201d[93]\n\nOne of the names often applied to Apollo,[94] and subsequently to his\nson,[95] was distinctly medical, viz., P\u00e6on, or Paieon.[96] Homer always\nuses it in referring to the physician of the Olympian gods, as where he\nspeaks of the Pharian race as \u201cfrom P\u00e6on sprung.\u201d[97] \u201cP\u00e6onian herbs\u201d[98]\nis the phrase used by Virgil in his account of the restoration to life\nof Hippolytus. And this leads me to say that Apollo was believed to have\na special knowledge of medicinal plants. By Ovid he is represented as\nsaying:\u2014\n\n    \u201cWhat herbs and simples grow\n    In fields, in forests, all their power I know.\u201d[99]\n\nIt may be further said that Apollo always continued to have healing\npowers accorded him. No more proof of this is wanting than the first\nclause of the Hippocratic oath\u2014\u201cI swear by Apollo, the physician.\u201d\n\nIt would seem to have been about the time of the Trojan war that the\nspecial god of medicine began to be viewed as such by the Greeks. Strong\nreason for so believing is found in the fact that Homer refers to\n\u00c6sculapius as simply \u201ca blameless doctor,\u201d[100]\u2014a mortal, the adjective\nused never being applied to a god. A well-informed writer remarks that\n\u201cthe kernel out of which the whole myth has grown is, perhaps, the\naccount we read in Homer.\u201d[101] This opinion is open to question. Even\nthe title of Archegetes, or Primeval Divinity, was sometimes given to\n\u00c6sculapius, and, indeed, under that title he was worshipped by the\nPhocians in a temple situated eighty stadia[102] from Tithorea. This name\nwas also given, it must be said, to Apollo, from whom probably it was\nreceived by the son. I may add here the suggestion of the Abb\u00e9 Banier,\nthat likely a distinguished physician, called \u00c6sculapius,[103] of the age\nof Hercules and Jason, being highly honored, was in time confounded with\nthe old Ph\u0153nician and Egyptian god, Esmun; \u201cso that in process of time\nthe worship of the latter came to be quite forgotten, and the new god\nsubstituted altogether in his room.\u201d[104]\n\nGalen expresses doubt whether the divinity of \u00c6sculapius was the result\nof a gradual development from a human basis; but Pausanias says: \u201cThat\n\u00c6sculapius was from the first considered as a god, and that his fame\nwas not owing to length of time, I find confirmed by various arguments,\nand even by the authority of Homer, in the following verses, in which\nAgamemnon thus speaks of Machaon:\u2014\n\n    \u2018Talthibius, hither swift, Machaon bring,\n    Who from the blameless \u00c6sculapius sprung;\u2019[105]\n\nwhich is just as much as if he had said, \u2018Call a man who is a son of a\ngod.\u2019\u201d[106]\n\nIn the indulgence of their myth-forming fancies it was very reasonable,\nvery wise, on the part of the Greeks to make \u00c6sculapius the offspring\nof Apollo. If the god of medicine be viewed as a personification of the\nhealing powers of nature, what more rational, as has been observed,\nthan to take him to be \u201cthe son, the effects of Helios, Apollo, or the\nsun.\u201d[107]\n\nThe mythological history of the Grecian god of medicine is strange and\ninteresting. One must know it, or he will remain in the dark about many\nthings bearing on the symbolism and other features of the physician\u2019s art.\n\n\u00c6sculapius was the result, so the story runs, of a criminal _liaison_\nbetween Apollo and a young virgin, named Coronis, a native of\nThessaly\u2014something which the myth-makers apparently did not regard as\ndiscreditable. The morals of many of the gods were exceedingly bad. \u201cOur\nmanners have been corrupted by communication with the saints,\u201d[108]\nis a candid remark of Thoreau. It would appear that the ancients were\ncorrupted by communication with the gods.\n\nIt is recorded of Coronis that she was, like too many of the sex, fickle,\nand did not prove faithful to her divine paramour; she stealthily\ncultivated a criminal intimacy with an Arcadian youth, named Ischys.\nThe fact of her infidelity becoming known to Apollo, either through a\nmessage of a raven,[109] or his own divine powers, he, naturally enough,\nwas greatly displeased. And the wrath of the divinity was followed by a\nseries of remarkable events.\n\nAt this point it may be well to state that the parentage of \u00c6sculapius\nwas a question which early excited attention. A belief existed that \u201che\nwas the offspring of Arsino\u00eb\u201d and \u201ca citizen of the Messenians,\u201d as\nPausanias informs us. Apollophanes, an Arcadian,[110] being interested in\nthe matter, went to Delos, and, putting the question of its truth to the\nPythian deity, received this reply:\u2014\n\n    \u201cO \u00c6sculapius! source of mighty joy\n    To mortal natures; whom Coronis fair,\n    Daughter of Phlegyas, once with me conjoin\u2019d,\n    In Epidauria\u2019s barren region bore.\u201d[111]\n\nAccording to this dictum, he was, indeed, born in Epidaurus. Pausanias,\nby way of proof of the truth of it, says: \u201cI find that the most\nillustrious rites of \u00c6sculapius were derived from Epidaurus.\u201d[112] From\nthat point the worship seems to have spread. It is said, however, by\nStrabo,[113] that his birthplace was Tricca, in Thessaly.[114]\n\nHowever, to return to our story: the time of the delivery of Coronis was\nnot far off, when the news of her perfidy reached Apollo. Notwithstanding\nthis, he, being seemingly under the influence of the \u201cgreen-eyed\nmonster\u201d to an ungodly degree, cruelly resolved on having revenge at\nonce. Artemis,[115] the goddess of chastity, was directed to slay the\nunfaithful maid with a thunderbolt, and the order was duly executed. On\ncoins of Pergamus the unfortunate Thessalian appears entirely veiled.\n\nAfter the fatal thunderbolt had descended on the _enceinte_ Coronis, and\nher body was being consumed in the merciless pyre, Apollo\u2019s paternal\nfeelings became stirred, and saying, as Pindar tells us,\n\n    \u201cI may not bear to slay my child\n    With his sad mother, sin-defiled,\u201d[116]\n\nproceeded forthwith to save his unborn offspring.\n\nTo what manner of operation did he resort? I leave it to some all-knowing\nspecialist to find out; but, at any rate, by some method or other, the\nchild was rescued.[117] Another version of the affair, preserved by\nPausanias, robs the god of any possible skill as a gyn\u00e6cologist\u2014surgical,\nI mean. According to it, when Coronis was undergoing cremation, after\nbeing slain by Artemis, \u201cthe boy is said to have been snatched by\nHermes from the flames.\u201d[118] And of this I may observe that it was\nnot inappropriate to have Hermes, the Grecian metamorphosis of the\nthrice-great god of wisdom and knowledge of the Egyptians, present at the\nunnatural _accouchement_, and in such close relation to \u00c6sculapius at the\nvery beginning of his wonderful career.\n\nIt was, then, the unhappy fate of \u00c6sculapius to be an orphan from his\nbirth, if birth he had, to speak correctly; and it is possible that his\nadvent was decidedly premature\u2014in a medical sense. Apollo was puzzled\nto know what to do with his tender son; nor did he do for him all that\ncould be expected, for baby \u00c6sculapius was heartlessly exposed on\nMount Titthium. Here the little unfortunate fell into the keeping of\na friendly goat and dog. The goat gave the precious _enfant trouv\u00e9_\nnourishment,[119] as Amalthea had done Zeus, and the dog kept guard over\nhim.[120] Splendid services, indeed, on the part of two humble animals,\nin the interest of medicine and humanity!\n\nOn Epidaurian coins, the infantile god of medicine is appropriately\nrepresented under a she-goat on Mount Titthium, with Aresthanas\napproaching. This person was the shepherd of whom Pausanias says that,\ncoming to the rescue, \u201che beheld a splendor beaming from the infant, and,\nthinking that it was something divine, as indeed it was, departed from\nthe place. But a report,\u201d he continues, \u201cwas immediately spread through\nevery land and sea that such as were afflicted with any kind of disease\nwere healed by the boy, and that even the dead were raised to life.\u201d[121]\nThe reader need hardly be informed that accounts parallel to this are\ncommon enough in ancient records.\n\nHow it happened that the child of Coronis, a Thessalian, first saw the\nlight in Epidauria, a country which became particularly sacred to him, is\na question which should be answered. It appears that Coronis came there\nwith her warlike father, Phlegyas, who gave, as a reason for his visit,\na desire to see the country, but, \u201cin reality,\u201d Pausanias says, \u201cthat he\nmight inspect the multitude of the inhabitants, and learn whether there\nwas a great quantity of fighting men.\u201d[122]\n\nPindar states that Apollo, on rescuing his child, bore him at once to\nChiron\u2014\n\n    \u201cTo learn of human woes the healing lore,\u201d[123]\n\nwhich does away with the fabled discreditable exposure of him; but\nwhether this be so or not, in progress of time, he did put him under the\ncare and instruction of \u201cthe beneficent leech,\u201d[124] Cheiron (to use the\narchaic expression of the historian, Grote[125]), the Thessalian Centaur,\nor fabulous monster, whose figure from the waist down was like the body\nof a horse.[126] Under the direction of this strangely-formed creature,\n\u00c6sculapius proceeded to study the medical virtues of plants; for Chiron\nwas a great herbalist, being called by Homer, in the words of Pope, \u201cthe\nsire of pharmacy.\u201d[127] In time the pupil exceeded the teacher in his\nknowledge of drugs.\n\nChiron was regarded, Pindar tells us,[128] as the son of Saturn and\nthe sea-nymph Philyra; and hence was a brother of Zeus. Saturn changed\nhimself into a horse to conceal his amour with the nymph from his wife,\nRhea. This would account for the form of the Centaur.\n\nChiron lived in a cave on Mount Pelion, in Thessaly. It will be\nremembered that it was from there that he got the ashen spear[129] for\nPeleus, which the son brought into use, a ponderous spear, which\u2014\n\n                    \u201cStern Achilles only wields,\n    The death of heroes and the dread of fields.\u201d[130]\n\nAccording to Homer,[131] Hercules received instruction in medicine from\nChiron; and it is stated, by Pindar,[132] that Jason was another pupil\nof his. With these \u00c6sculapius went, as physician, on the celebrated\nArgonautic expedition.\n\nAt the end of his career, the Centaur became, it is said, the sign of the\nzodiac, Sagittarius.[133]\n\nIn treating the sick, \u00c6sculapius soon proved himself a master. His\npatients did not die, and it appears that he recalled a few from \u201cthe\nshades below.\u201d But, sad to relate, the great success he had in curing the\nsick, and especially his recalling some from the other world, led to his\ndestruction. Pluto, the god of the nether regions, not wishing a sparse\npopulation,[134] became displeased with him and complained to Zeus, who,\nprobably believing that he was becoming too powerful, so much so as to\nmake man undying,[135] cut short his career with a thunderbolt,\u2014a tragedy\nwhich caused his father, Apollo, to wander away to the land of the\nHyperboreans and to shed tears of gold. At the request of Apollo he was\nplaced among the stars.[136] The eighth day of the Eleusinian Mysteries\nwas devoted to sacrifices to him, and was called Epidauria.\n\nFrom what Virgil says, it would seem that it was not because of the\ndirect exercise of his power to restore life that \u00c6sculapius was\ndestroyed, but because of the degree of perfection to which he had\nbrought the medical art. The event, \u201cthe fable,\u201d[137] as Pliny designates\nit, is connected with the restoration of Hippolytus or Virbius, and is\nthus referred to by the Roman poet:\u2014\n\n    \u201cBut chaste Diana who his death deplor\u2019d\n    With \u00c6sculapian herbs his life restor\u2019d;\n    Then Jove, who saw from high with just disdain\n    The dead inspired with vital breath again,\n    Struck to the centre with his flaming dart\n    The unhappy founder of the god-like art.\u201d[138]\n\nThe plan of treatment pursued by \u00c6sculapius was variable. After speaking\nof the sick, \u201ca host forlorn\u201d that flocked to him, Pindar says:\u2014\n\n    \u201cSome spells brought back to life;\n    These drank the potion plan\u2019d; for these he bound\n    With drugs the aching wound;\n    Some leaped to strength beneath the helpful knife.\u201d[139]\n\nThe lines just given certainly serve to disprove the statement of Pliny,\nthat in Homeric times \u201cthe healing art confined itself solely to the\ntreatment of wounds.\u201d[140] It is doubtless true, however, that nothing is\nsaid in Homer\u2019s works about particular diseases.\n\nIt has been held that \u00c6sculapius, like More\u2019s Utopians, did not think\nit wise to bring to bear the art of healing in the case of any one who\nmight not be restored to health and to usefulness to himself and others.\nSays Plato: \u201cHe thought medical treatment ill bestowed upon one who could\nnot live in his regular round of duties, and so was of no use either to\nhimself or to the State.\u201d[141] The great philosopher accordingly regarded\nhim as \u201ca profound politician.\u201d For, in his ideal state, this celebrated\ntheorizer would have physicians \u201cbestow their services on those only of\nthe citizens whose bodily and mental constitutions are sound and good,\nleaving those that are otherwise, as to the state of their body, to\ndie, and actually putting to death those who are naturally corrupt and\nincurable in soul.\u201d[142] Some excellent reasons might be advanced in\nfavor of such a harsh policy, but, while human love of life and human\nsympathy remain as now, it will never be brought into play.[143] As\nan ideal physician, \u00c6sculapius could hardly have been an advocate of\nit.[144]\n\nI may say a word about the charge of Pindar, that the efforts of\n\u00c6sculapius to recall the dead to life were inspired by temptation with\ngold. The poet says:\u2014\n\n    \u201cAlas! that filthy gain can blind the wise!\n    The glittering gold betrayed the noble leech,\n    From the dark prison-house to bid arrive\n    A captive thrall of death!\n    But Jove with wrathful hand refused to each\n    The hallowed breath.\n    Down came the bolt of fire.\u201d[145]\n\nMaking such an ugly charge is probably unjust to the great healer. The\nhistorian, Grote, thinks so, and expresses the opinion that Pindar was\ndisposed \u201cto extenuate the cruelty of Zeus by imputing guilty and sordid\nviews to \u00c6sculapius.\u201d[146] Long ago the accusation was met by Plato.\nSays he: \u201cWhile they[147] assert that \u00c6sculapius was the son of Apollo,\nthey declare that he was induced by a bribe of gold to raise to life a\nrich man who was dead, which was the cause of his being smitten with\na thunderbolt. But we, with our principles, cannot believe both these\nstatements of theirs. We shall maintain that, if he was the son of a\ngod, he was not covetous; if he was covetous, he was not the son of\nApollo.\u201d[148] He was the son of Apollo.\n\nTo conclude this imperfect sketch of the life of \u00c6sculapius, I may add\nthat he was married, as every wise as well as respectable physician\nshould be,[149] and, as was desirable in an exemplar, the father of at\nleast six children,\u2014two sons and four daughters. The two sons, Machaon\nand Podalirius, taught by their \u201cparent god,\u201d as Homer informs us,\nbecame \u201cfamed surgeons,\u201d \u201cdivine professors of the healing art,\u201d[150]\nand were also distinguished warriors under Agamemnon. Of the daughters,\nHygeia, Panacea, Jaso, and \u00c6gle, the first became the goddess of health,\nof whom more anon.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nTHE IMAGE OF \u00c6SCULAPIUS.\n\n\nA simple image of a god may be regarded as a symbol. When the image\nhas connected with it one or more figures to indicate the qualities\nor functions of the divinity, we have then, strictly speaking, an\nallegorical representation. \u00c6sculapius was sometimes shown in the one way\nand sometimes in the other. Thus, he was occasionally to be seen at Rome,\nand elsewhere, in the form of a serpent; and, at the Epidaurian Grove,\nfor example, as a man having in connection with him a serpent, a dog, and\nother things.\n\nAs is implied in what I have just said, there was no set, invariable mode\nof portrayal of \u00c6sculapius. This fact should be clearly understood. But\nlet it not be supposed that it is by any means singular. It will occur\nto the well-informed reader that the same holds true in regard to Zeus,\nApollo, Venus, and, indeed, all other divinities. Says M\u00fcller: \u201cThe\nso-called ideals of the Grecian gods are not types; they do not preclude\nthe freedom of the artist; they rather contain the strongest impulse to\nnew, genial creations.\u201d[151] It is, perhaps, self-evident that a statue\nof a god must necessarily be quite ideal; and, of course, an ideal is\nwithout absolute permanency. Still, it remains true that in the case of\n\u00c6sculapius, as well as that of every other deity, there was a more or\nless definite conventional way of representing him. This, however, was\nlargely dependent on the presence of attributes. Thus, it would be not\nonly inconsistent with custom, but almost futile, to attempt to delineate\nhim without the presence of a serpent.\n\nThe most magnificent representation of \u00c6sculapius was the one at\nEpidaurus. A description of it has already been given. This fine work of\nart disappeared at an early day. The vandals could not be expected to\nspare it; the gold in its composition was fatal to its permanency. It was\nborne on coins of Epidaurus. According to Strabo,[152] a copy of it was\ntaken to the Galatian town, Pessinus, not Rome, as is often said. Several\nother places were similarly favored.\n\nThere was a very celebrated statue of \u00c6sculapius at the renowned\nAsclepion of Pergamus, the production of the artist Pyromachus, as well\nas one similar to that of Epidaurus. It became the prevailing type\nin art. In it the god was represented as a mature man of benevolent\nexpression, with his rather long hair bound with a fillet, and in\nhis right hand he held a staff enwreathed with a serpent. He wore a\nhimation[153] drawn tight over the left arm and breast. The whole right\nside from the waist up was uncovered. His attitude was that of a person\nready to render assistance. \u201cWe can recognize,\u201d says M\u00fcller, \u201cthe figure\nwith tolerable certainty as the most usual representation of the god on\nnumerous coins of Pergamus.\u201d[154]\n\nThe well-known statue of \u00c6sculapius at Berlin resembles that at Pergamus;\nand the same is true of one at Florence, and others. That of Berlin has\nthe serpent-wreathed staff, or support, placed on the left side. This\nappears to have been frequently done. An instance of it I have observed\nin a gem bearing \u00c6sculapius and Hygeia, taken from a tomb at Thron,\u2014a\npiece of work of the Roman period. It is shown in General Di Cesnola\u2019s\ninteresting work.[155]\n\nWhile \u00c6sculapius was made to appear aged in some instances, as in the\nEpidaurian representation, he was sometimes presented in youthful form,\nand beardless, like his father, Apollo. And this reminds me of the story\ntold of Dyonysius, King of Sicily, that, on conquering the Morea, he\nordered the beard to be taken off the Epidaurian statue of the god, for\nthe reason that it was unbecoming and unjust for the son to have a beard\nwhen the father had none. Possibly if it had not been a golden one it\nwould not have been molested.\n\nI may venture to say that both aged and youthful representations of\n\u00c6sculapius are open to criticism. An ideal physician should be, as in\nthe statue at Pergamus, a man in his prime, or, in other words, mature,\nbut neither young nor old. The immature man is apt to be defective in\njudgment, and the superannuated one is nearly always of excessively\nroutine practice and ignorant of recent advances in his profession.\n\nBy way of conclusion, I will say a few words about the famous\ncolossal head of \u00c6sculapius, originally colored and decorated with\na bronze wreath, now in the British Museum, where it has been since\n1866. It represents, with marked freedom and breadth of execution, a\nfinely-developed man of middle age, with a cast of countenance similar to\nthat of the Phidian Zeus. The beard is of moderate length and is waved\nlike the somewhat long hair. This is really one of the noblest remnants\nof Grecian art. Nichols, in whose work[156] an engraving of it is given\nas a frontispiece, just as it is in this one, regards it \u201cas scarcely\nless remarkable\u201d than the celebrated \u201cVenus of Milo\u201d in the Louvre, both\nof which were found, the former in 1828, on the island of Melos. It is\nconsidered to be the work of an artist of the Macedonian period, about\nB.C. 300,\u2014a time when the Greek sculptor had attained perfect mastery of\nhis art.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nTHE \u00c6SCULAPIAN STAFF AND SERPENT.\n\n\nThe staff[157] and serpent of \u00c6sculapius being of special emblematic\nsignificance, I deem it proper to speak of it at some length. The\nconfusion of ideas which appears to prevail extensively in regard to it\nimplies that a definite, explicit account of it is much needed.\n\nAlthough, as will be remembered, Ovid makes \u00c6sculapius refer to his\nserpent-enwreathed staff when addressing the commission which came from\nRome to Epidaurus, in the famous representation of him given there, none\nwas present. The poet may possibly have been misled by what had become\nfamiliar to him at home; for one was to be seen in connection with the\nstatue of the god at Rome. It is probable, however, that it was a common\noccurrence for a living serpent, one of the species kept and viewed as\nsacred in the Hierum, to climb the staff in the hand of the Epidaurian\nstatue.\n\nIt is very likely that the staff bearing a serpent became a\ncharacteristic emblem of the god of medicine through the great work of\nthe sculptor, Pyromachus, at the Asclepion of Pergamus, which I have\nalready described. The appropriateness of it was widely recognized, but\nit was not always adopted, as is attested by the remains of ancient art.\n\nApart from the serpent, the import of which will be fully treated of in\nthe succeeding chapter, the staff as an attribute of \u00c6sculapius merits\nstudy. Like many other apparently simple things in art, it may stand for\na great deal more than one would suppose on first view.\n\nThe object encircled by a serpent held in the hand of the \u00c6sculapian\nstatue by Pyromachus, at Pergamus, is evidently a walking-stick. The\nEpidaurian statue has a similar object in one of the hands, and the same\nis the case in many others. Hence, as the representations of the gods\nof the ancients had rarely or never anything but significant attributes\nattached to them, it is pertinent to ask an explanation of its presence.\nWas there an historical basis for it? In other words, was \u00c6sculapius\nnotoriously in the habit of carrying a staff? If so, it is possible that\nthis was why Pyromachus, Thrasymedes, and other artists connected one\nwith figures of him. But there is no special reason for believing that\nsuch was the case.[158]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 3.\u2014CLUB OR STAFF OF \u00c6SCULAPIUS. (_From Maffei._)]\n\nThen, did the artists place a staff in the hand of \u00c6sculapius of their\nown accord to indicate the perambulatory character of the physician\u2019s\ncalling? Such an attribute was doubtless deemed appropriate by them;\nbut, before one could believe that they gave it on the score of apparent\nappropriateness, it would have to be shown that it was in the power of\nartists to design gods at pleasure,\u2014something which could not be done.\nThey evolved it, I may venture to say, from something allied in form.\n\nThere is little or no ground for believing that the staff of \u00c6sculapius\nwas a wonder-working object. I am not aware that such a thing was\nplaced intentionally in his hand by any artist. Hence, the references\noften made to the mystic wand of the god spring from misapprehension, a\nwalking-staff being something very different.\n\nOne can obtain, I believe, from an examination of the Berlin statue and\nothers,\u2014in which \u00c6sculapius is represented leaning on, or standing by, a\npost of variable thickness and more or less regular in shape,\u2014a clue to\nan explanation of the origin of the staff. Between the two objects the\ndifference is not great, certainly not radical; and as attributes they\nmight be expressive of the same thing. The club shown in the picture\n(Fig. 3), from Maffei, might be viewed as intermediate.\n\nOf course, I do not say that the prototype of the staff was the post\npresent in some representations of \u00c6sculapius, although the idea would\nnot be entirely unreasonable. There is more ground for the opinion that\nboth were, so to speak, the offspring of something else.\n\nAny one familiar with the antique representations of \u00c6sculapius, and who\nhas also seen different ones of Apollo, might well be inclined to believe\nthat both gods have essentially the same thing by their side, namely, a\npost with a clinging serpent. And when it is recalled that \u00c6sculapius\nwas the son of Apollo, the opinion might be advanced with some degree of\nreasonableness, that the emblem of the former was, in reality, that of\nthe latter, somewhat modified.\n\nTracing thus the origin of the staff of \u00c6sculapius to the related symbol\npossessed by his father, Apollo, it would not be satisfactory to rest\nhere; one naturally wants to know something about the latter. A few\nwords, however, on the subject must suffice.\n\nAlthough it was not an uncommon thing for artists to give posts by\nthe side of statues, the one bearing the serpent in, say, the Apollo\nBelvedere, was, it is thought, meant to represent the Omphalos, to which\nthe Grecians attached much significance.\n\nThe Omphalos,[159] in the form of a conical stone, was kept, and was\npresent within historical times, as Strabo explicitly states, at Delphi,\na place which, he says, \u201cwas supposed to be the centre of the habitable\nearth, and was called the navel of the earth.\u201d[160] Plato refers to\nApollo as \u201cthe god whose seat is the middle point of the earth, its very\nnavel.\u201d[161] According to a legend,[162] Delphi was esteemed the centre\nof the earth, because two eagles sent out by Zeus, one from the east and\nthe other from the west, met at that point. Says Strabo: \u201cIn the temple\nis seen a sort of navel, wrapped in bands and surmounted by figures\nrepresenting the birds of the fable.\u201d[163]\n\nThe etymology of the word _Omphalos_ casts light on its meaning. Olympos,\nthe mount of the gods, is a corruption of it. _Omphi-el_[164] is the\noracle of the sun-god. _Al-omphi_ was used to designate hills, or\nmountains. Holwell says that the word came from Egypt, and was originally\n_Ompha-el_, and related to the oracle of Ham, or the sun.[165] The idea\nof a sacred mount or elevation is thus the original meaning of the word.\nAnd here I may say that in Hindu mythology considerable is said of a\nmountain encircled by a great serpent.[166]\n\nLet it not be supposed that the reasons in favor of the idea that the\nOmphalos became the staff of \u00c6sculapius are entirely insubstantial.\nRemains of ancient art furnish excellent proof of it. M\u00fcller says: \u201cIn\na Pompeian picture, \u00c6sculapius has beside him the Omphalos, which is\nentwisted with the well-known net, composed of \u03c3\u03c4\u03ad\u03bc\u00b5\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1. We see from this\nthat this symbol of Apollo was also transferred to his son. On the coins\nof the gens Rubria, likewise, it is not an egg, as is usually asserted,\nbut _the Omphalos placed on a circular altar that is encircled by the\n\u00c6sculapian serpent_.\u201d[167]\n\nTo one versed in the history of Ph\u0153nicia and other Oriental countries,\nthe Omphalos is very certain to be viewed in another light than as a\nsymbol of a \u201chigh place,\u201d or mount[168] of worship. In the great Tyrian\nTemple of Baal Melkarth, which Herodotus went to see and admired much,\nand of which that of Solomon, or, rather, of Jehovah on Mount Moriah\nwas almost a copy, even to the two pillars in front,\u2014symbols of the\nsun-god,\u2014were certain similar stones, carefully preserved and duly\nreverenced. These, it is well known, were of procreative import; they\nwere phallic in character.[169] Was the Omphalos of similar significance?\nThere is little reason to doubt that it was often regarded in that light.\n\u201cIn the earliest times,\u201d says M\u00fcller, \u201ca conical pillar, placed in the\nstreet and called Apollo Agyicus, sufficed to keep in remembrance the\nprotecting and health-bringing power of the god.\u201d[170]\n\nThe staff, then, in the hand of \u00c6sculapius may have had its prototype\nin the Phallus,\u2014truly both an expressive and sublime symbol, when\ncontemplated by pure, enlightened minds.\n\nBut, notwithstanding what I have said, one might present some arguments\nin favor of the view that the staff of \u00c6sculapius had its true prototype\nin a magic wand or symbol of office. As will be pointed out later, the\nAccadio-sumerian, Silik-mulu-khi, the beneficent son of Hea, subsequently\nMarodach or Marduk of the Babylonians and Assyrians, a healing divinity,\nfrom whom the conception of \u00c6sculapius may have partly sprung, carried a\nreed when attending to his duties.\n\nI may say, too, that some hold the staff in the hand of the Egyptian\nThoth to have been the original of the one accorded \u00c6sculapius. Thus,\nin an excellent and finely illustrated essay, W. R. Cooper says: \u201cWhen\nonce the ur\u00e6us had been associated with the idea of divinity, the\nTheban priests, rightly desiring to ascribe the gift of life and the\npower of healing to the Deity alone, significantly enough twined the\nserpent around the trident of Jupiter Ammon and the staff of Thoth or\nHermes Trismegistus, the author of medicine, to imply the source from\nwhich that subordinate demigod\u2019s virtues were derived. From this, in\nthe later periods of her history, Egypt remitted to Greece, along with\nthe so-called forty-six hermetic treatises, the traditional _caduceus_\nor serpent-sceptre of Cyllenius[171] and \u00c6sculapius, and, by subsequent\ntransformation of the same deities into a feminine form, the snake and\nbowl of Hygeia, the goddess of health.\u201d[172] The \u201cserpent-sceptre\u201d which\nEgypt \u201cremitted\u201d to Cyllenius and to \u00c6sculapius must have changed greatly\nin the passage, for it is anything but alike as seen in the hands of the\ntwo, and in neither case is it very similar to the asserted original. As\nwell or better to take the staff and serpent to be the serpent-bearing\ntree,\u2014the tree of life in miniature.\n\nHowever, the fact remains, as already stated, that \u00c6sculapius had no\nwand; that is, a rod of magic power. The very different personage,\nHermes, as also Iris, the female messenger of the goddesses, had a\nwand or, rather, _caduceus_, which, strange to say, is taken by many\nto be a symbol of medicine; that is, the caduceus of Hermes, which is\nnot of medical import at all, is accorded to \u00c6sculapius, who really\nhad none. I repeat: there is no such thing as an \u00c6sculapian wand, if\nwand be taken to mean a rod possessed of wonder-working power. But, of\ncourse, the serpent-bearing staff of \u00c6sculapius is an expressive medical\nemblem.[173] I give an example after one in a plate in De Wilde\u2019s rare\nold book.[174] One might take the serpent to be a symbol of the god and\nthe staff as symbolic of the moving of the physician from house to house\nin the exercise of his profession. Regarding the knots as expressive\nof difficulties in the art and practice of medicine is very fanciful,\nbut not infrequently done. It is proper to observe, however, that the\nphysician\u2019s staff in modern times is smooth, as will be pointed out later.\n\nI deem it not amiss to give a cut of the caduceus of Hermes, in the\nhope of better removing misapprehension in regard to it. I give it as\nshown on the seal of the United States Marine-Hospital Service. It is\nan appropriate trade symbol, Hermes being the god of commerce[175] as\nwell as the messenger of the gods; but it is more especially a symbol of\npeace, the god being the great peace-maker. (See Fig. 5.)\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 4.\u2014STAFF AND SERPENT OF \u00c6SCULAPIUS.]\n\nTraditional history relates that, in his rambles one day, Hermes saw\ntwo snakes fighting, and, laying his wand\u2014which was originally an\nolive-branch received from Apollo\u2014between them, was delighted to discover\nthat it had the power of putting an end to the encounter, and of turning\nthe two into friends. Hence the presence of the two serpents on the wand,\nthe _virga_ of the Romans. The tradition was likely in the nature of an\nafter-thought. If the two serpents be taken to represent two contending\npersons, or nations, the mission of the ambassador with his wand or mace,\nthe symbol of authority, is well indicated.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 5.\u2014THE CADUCEUS OF HERMES.]\n\nThe two serpents on the caduceus have been taken to be male and female,\nand in an amatory mood.[176] Thus, says Aubrey, \u201cThe caduceus of Mercurie\nis adorned with two serpents in the posture of generation.\u201d[177] Pliny\nexpressed an opinion similar to that of Aubrey.[178] This view was\nadopted by the London medical publishers, the Churchills, as will be seen\non looking at the title-page of their books issued until recently. For\ninstance, on the title-page of Pettigrew\u2019s \u201cSuperstitions Connected with\nMedicine and Surgery,\u201d issued in 1844, between two concentric circles\nsurrounding the caduceus, are the words, _Irrupta tenet copula_, with\n_Literis medicina_ on the serpents. Later, the first phrase was dropped\nand the other put in its place. For some years caduceus and all have very\nproperly been left out.\n\nHermes was accorded some functions by the Greeks which may well cause the\nphysician to feel that it is not very complimentary to associate either\nhim or the caduceus with his art, even if he be one who regards it\nchiefly as a trade. Thus, Hermes, being an adept thief, was classed as\nthe god of rogues. And this brings to mind the remark of some one, that,\nif medicine be a trade, it is the trade of all others the most exactly\ncut out for a rogue. Again, it was the function of Hermes, very like that\nof the archangel Michael, \u201cto draw the souls from hollow graves,\u201d and\n\u201cdrive them down the Stygian waves,\u201d with his caduceus, as we are told by\nVirgil.[179] It is hardly a part of the physician\u2019s function, I submit,\nto drive souls \u201cdown the Stygian waves;\u201d certainly, no one professes to\ndo it.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\n\u00c6SCULAPIUS AND THE SERPENT.\n\n\nThe serpent is undoubtedly the most significant of all medical symbols.\nEven \u00c6sculapius assumed such a form, and was sometimes so represented by\nsculptors. It was to him the most sacred of all animals. Down through the\nages this remarkable fact has been kept in view, and to-day it is almost\nas patent as ever.\n\nNow, what is the explanation of the serpent as a symbol in medicine? How\nmany medical men can say? Several explanations have currency; but I may\ncandidly state that none of these are quite satisfactory; and I could not\nrefer to an acceptable one in all the volumes in which such information\nmight be expected to be found, with which I am familiar. Here, then, is\na highly interesting and obvious fact to physicians, which few or none\ncompletely understand. Can I cast any light on it? Some, certainly; but\njust how much I must leave to the intelligent reader to judge, after\nperusing this brief but comprehensive chapter.\n\nThe serpent in medicine is meant to symbolize prudence, something very\nrequisite in the physician. This opinion is one often expressed. It is\nnot necessarily baseless. To be \u201cas wise as a serpent,\u201d and to have \u201cthe\nsubtlety of the serpent,\u201d are every-day phrases. The reptile has been\naccorded such qualities from a very early date. De Gubernatis remarks\nthat in India it is still \u201crevered as a symbol of every species of\nlearning.\u201d[180]\n\nIt is often said that the serpent in medicine is meant to symbolize\nthe power of the art to produce renovation or rejuvenescence. This is\nnot an absurd notion. The basis of it is believed to be the periodical\nrenewal of the skin of the animal. This has long attracted attention.\nIn a precious extant fragment of the very ancient Ph\u0153nician book of\nSanchoniathon it is said of the serpent, \u201cIt is very long lived, and\nhas the quality not only of putting off its age and assuming a second\nyouth, but it receives a greater increase. And when it has fulfilled the\nappointed measure of its existence it consumes itself.\u201d[181] Referring\nto its reputed longevity, one intelligent writer says: \u201cThis quality was\nno doubt the cause why this animal entwined round a staff was the symbol\nof health and the distinctive attribute of the classical \u00c6sculapius and\nHygeia.\u201d[182] At any rate, to restore people to health and renew their\nage would be worthy employment for any one.\n\nAnother prevalent idea is, that the serpent in medicine is meant to\nsymbolize convalescence. The remarkable change from a state of lethargy\nto one of active life, which the reptile undergoes every spring,\naffords some ground for it. It is taken advantage of in the device of\nthe Rinovati Academy, as will be seen by turning to Mrs. Pelliser\u2019s\ninteresting book.[183] Three serpents are represented on a bank\ngathering vigor in the sunshine, in the strengthening rays of Apollo.\nThe educational interpretation is evidently quite as reasonable as the\nmedical.\n\nOf the three foregoing explanations of the symbolic import of the serpent\nin medicine, it must be said that there is good reason to hold that\nthey are largely, or entirely, mere after-thoughts. Any one of ingenious\nmind could suggest several others just as worthy of acceptance. But, of\ncourse, such a mode of interpretation is decidedly illegitimate.\n\nThe idea has been advanced that the commonest of the species of serpent,\n_Elaphis \u00c6sculapii_, described above, at Epidaurus, where the myth of the\nGrecian god of medicine first took definite shape, affords an adequate\nexplanation of the association of the reptile with medicine. This may\nhave had a little to do with it. I cannot admit, however, that it did\nmore than, perhaps, emphasize somewhat the association. If such were its\norigin, the association could not be viewed otherwise than as incidental,\nand hence the serpent might be without any special meaning.\n\nAfter referring to some strange curative virtue attributed to\nserpents, Pliny says: \u201cHence it is that the snake is consecrated to\n\u00c6sculapius.\u201d[184] Here is a specimen of them given by the rather\ncredulous old Roman: \u201cIt is a well-known fact that for all injuries\ninflicted by serpents, and those even of an otherwise incurable nature,\nit is an excellent remedy to apply the entrails of the serpent itself to\nthe wound.\u201d[185] The principle is obviously the same as that illustrated\nin the old custom of applying a hair of the dog to cure the wound caused\nby the bite of the animal. In many parts of the world, the serpent has\nbeen accorded great virtue as a medicine, and in China and elsewhere\nsuch is the case even to this day. In fact, apart from the preposterous\nand numerous uses to which it is put by hom\u0153opathic doctors, is not the\nvenom of the most deadly species declared by leading members of the\nprofession to be a capital cure for various serious ills? However,\nDr. D. G. Brinton quotes the rather striking observation of Agassiz,\nthat \u201cthe Maues Indians, who live between the Upper Tapajos and Madeira\nRivers in Brazil, whenever they assign a form to any \u2018remedio,\u2019 give it\nthat of a serpent.\u201d[186] But, in spite of the wide belief in the virtue\nof the serpent as a medicine, I cannot accept the opinion of Pliny,\nthat it affords a sufficient explanation of the matter in question. Its\nactual healing properties were assuredly too equivocal to merit such\ndistinction. With all its virtues, _soma_ itself received little or no\nmore.\n\nThe fabled power of the serpent to discover herbs of curative virtues\nhas been suggested as an explanation of the association of it with\nmedicine. This is based on a traditional episode in the history of\n\u00c6sculapius, which reminds one of the German story of the Snake Leaves,\ntold by Grimm.[187] As regards the \u00c6sculapian fable, it seems that on one\noccasion, while thinking what treatment to resort to in the case of a\npatient of his, Glaucus, a serpent appeared and twined itself around his\nstaff; he killed it, whereupon another came bearing in its mouth an herb\nwith which it restored the dead one to life. The god used the same herb\nwith similar effect on the human subject.[188] The extremely miraculous\nfeature of this explanation is an obstacle in the way of its acceptance.\n\nIt may be safely held that one must go back to a time long anterior to\nthat of \u00c6sculapius of the Greeks to acquire the true medical import of\nthe serpent, which has been so closely associated with him. There is\nexcellent reason for believing that we have in it a remnant of that\nancient and wonderfully wide-spread cultus, serpent-worship, which is\nstill kept up by the Nagas[189] of India and others. Epidaurus was\nfavorably situated for communication with Egypt, a country in which the\nserpent played a great religious r\u00f4le \u201cfrom the very earliest period,\u201d\nas shown by both \u201cwritten and monumental evidence,\u201d to use the words of\nCooper,[190] as well as in later times, even within the Christian era,\nwhen the special sect of Gnostics, who called themselves Ophit\u00e6, were in\ntheir glory. But, in truth, serpent-worship in Greece did not begin in\nthe time of \u00c6sculapius. Bryant maintains that it was brought into Greece\nby Cadmus, who, under the name of Taautus, or Thoth, took it also to both\nEgypt and Ph\u0153nicia from Babylonia.[191]\n\nOne can advance sufficient evidence to indicate with considerable\nconclusiveness that the Egyptians were in the habit of looking to a\nserpentine divinity for the cure of disease. In his interesting little\nbook,[192] Sharpe gives a figure of a serpent wearing the double\ncrown of Upper and Lower Egypt, on a pole or standard, a cut of which\nis reproduced (Fig. 6), which was carried in the periodical airing\nprocessions of the Egyptian divinities. Now, it is quite certain that\nMoses, and his people, too, were very familiar with this figure and its\nimport; but, at any rate, we find him making an imitation of it, in his\njourney with the Israelites in the Wilderness; and for what purpose? The\nstory is told in the Bible, and runs thus: \u201cAnd Moses made a serpent of\nbrass and put it upon a pole; and it came to pass that if a serpent had\nbitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass he lived.\u201d[193]\n\nVerily, there is the Healer in essentially the same form in which he was\nsometimes embodied by the Greeks and Romans. Hence, it is sure that the\nserpent, as a medical symbol, took shape before the time of \u00c6sculapius;\nlong before, for Moses lived nearly four hundred years earlier than he,\nand, as we have just seen, it was likely far from new, far from being\nunfamiliar in his day. Fergusson has this to say of it: \u201cIt is the first\nrecord we have of actual worship being performed to the serpent; and it\nis also remarkable, as the cause of this adoration is said to have been\nits healing powers.\u201d[194]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 6.\u2014THE SERPENT-HEALER.]\n\nThe opinion has been widely entertained that the prototype of the brazen\nserpent of Moses, simply \u201cNehushtan\u201d[195] in later times, was the _bonus\nd\u00e6mon_, the _Agathod\u00e6mon_[196] of the Greeks, Egyptians, and others. This\n\u201cgood genius\u201d was regarded with great favor, and doubtless many were in\nthe habit of according it power over disease. In the grove of Epidaurus,\nas in Indian temples and elsewhere among early peoples, the serpent was\nthe _genius loci_, and hence the Agathod\u00e6mon, the bringer of health and\ngood fortune, the teacher of wisdom, the oracle of future events. One was\nkept in the Erechtheum, close to the sacred olive-tree, and in each of\nmany other temples. One was to be found, according to Ebers, \u201cin every\ntemple\u201d[197] in Egypt.\n\nEvidence has recently been brought forward which goes to show that\nthe serpent called the \u201cgood genius\u201d in Egypt, in general, was in the\npart familiar to the Israelites, in the district of Suket, called also\nthe dwelling-place of Ankh, \u201cthe Living One,\u201d whose chief city was\nPiton,[198] regarded as the simulacrum of the sun-god Ra, or, rather,\nAtum, Tum, or Tom, the sun as he sets.[199] Brugsch, who has studied\nthe matter carefully, says: \u201cThe god Tom represents solely the Egyptian\ntype, corresponding to the divinity of Piton, who is called by the name\nof Ankh, and surnamed \u2018the great god.\u2019... A serpent to which the Egyptian\ntexts give the epithet of \u2018the Magnificent,\u2019 \u2018the Splendid,\u2019 was regarded\nas the living symbol of the god of Piton. It bore the name of Kereh;\nthat is, \u2018the Smooth.\u2019 And this serpent again transports us into the\ncamp of the Children of Israel in the Wilderness; it recalls to us the\nbrazen serpent of Moses, to which the Hebrews offered the perfumes of\nincense, until the time when King Hezekiah[200] decreed the abolition\nof this ancient serpent-worship.\u201d[201] He further says: \u201cI will not\nventure to decide the question whether the god, \u2018He who lives,\u2019 of the\nEgyptian text is identical with the Jehovah of the Hebrews, but, at all\nevents, everything tends to this belief when we remember that the name\nof Jehovah[202] contains the same meaning as the Egyptian word Ankh, \u2018He\nwho lives.\u2019\u201d[203] These are highly interesting statements of this learned\nEgyptologist.\n\nBearing in mind what has just been said, it is interesting to turn to\nwhat Solomon (?) says about the \u201cbrazen serpent,\u201d and the cures wrought\nby it. In the \u201cBook of Wisdom,\u201d it is spoken of as a symbol, \u201ca sign of\nsalvation;\u201d[204] and, it is said: \u201cFor it was neither herb nor molifying\nplaster that healed them, but thy word, O Lord, which healeth all\nthings.\u201d[205] And to this it is added: \u201cFor it was thou, O Lord, that\nhath power of life and death and leadest down to the gates of death and\nbringest back again.\u201d[206]\n\nChristian writers have generally explained the brazen serpent to be a\nsymbol of God, or the Savior. The writer of the article on medicine,\nin Smith\u2019s \u201cDictionary of the Bible,\u201d says that even in the Talmud it\nis acknowledged \u201cthat the healing power lay not in the brazen serpent\nitself, but as soon as they feared the Most High and uplifted their\nhearts to the heavenly father they were healed, and in default of this\nthey were brought to nought.\u201d Thus the brazen serpent was symbolical\nonly. A serpent clinging to a cross was formerly much used as an emblem\nof Christ. In fact, a sort of Christian serpent-worship was for a long\nperiod greatly in vogue among many besides the professed Ophit\u00e6.\n\nIn this connection it is well to say, that the _naja_ _haje_, _naia_,\nor _asp_, the serpent shown in the cut of the brazen serpent, was the\nspecies always, or nearly always, taken to represent the spirit pervading\nnature, the Agathod\u00e6mon, or Cnuphis, whom the Egyptians were wont to\nadore as the creator of the world. It was the Ur\u00e6us or Basiliskos of\nthe Pharaohs. It is from three to five feet in length. It is extremely\nvenomous. In appearance, it resembles the Indian cobra de capello,[207]\nbut has no spectacle-marking on its head. In hieroglyphics it signifies\n\u201cgoddess.\u201d\n\nAs to \u201cthe serpent of the burning bite which destroyed the Children of\nIsrael,\u201d I may say, in the words of an authoritative work, \u201cEither the\ncerastes or the naja haje or any other venomous species frequenting\nArabia may denote it.\u201d[208] The _Vipera cerastes_ is small, horned,\nburrows in sand, and is very venomous. Herodotus was led to believe\nthat it was \u201cperfectly harmless,\u201d[209]\u2014a great mistake. It was used to\nrepresent the letter f. Says Sir Gardner Wilkinson: \u201cAs Herodotus does\nnot notice the asp, it is possible that he may have attributed to the\ncerastes the honor that really belonged to that sacred snake.\u201d[210] This\nmistake is still frequently made.\n\nBut the association of the serpent with \u00c6sculapius, as a remnant of\nserpent-worship, can be explained without going to the Egyptian Tum, or\nany other foreign sun-god. One has but to turn to Apollo, to whom, as in\nthe case of, perhaps, all sun-gods, the reptile was sacred.[211]\n\nThe question now is, then, what was the reason for the association of\nthe serpent with Apollo? The usual reply is: the destruction by him of\nthe Python, which is essentially the same as the Aub or Ob, or, as it is\noften given, Typhon, of the Egyptians, an evil monster which was probably\ntaken primarily to represent harm resulting from the periodical overflow\nof the Nile. Homer says:\u2014\n\n    \u201cWith his shining shaft Apollo slew\n    That ugly dragon, hideous to the view,\n    Which grew, long nourished in its slimy den,\n    A monster horrible, the dread of men.\u201d[212]\n\nAdmitting, however, that Apollo overcame a mythical serpent, like many\nrelated divinities, from the Vedic sun-god, Indra, the destroyer of\nAhis down, does not afford a satisfactory solution of the matter under\ndiscussion. The Agathod\u00e6mon is infinitely preferable to Typhon as the\nprototype of the serpent of \u00c6sculapius. It, indeed, was the reptile\nsacred to Apollo as well as Tum.\n\nA study of the origin of the association of the good serpent with Apollo\nand Ra-Tum and other sun-gods is interesting. In the search for it one\nmay get a clue to it in comparative mythology. The close resemblance to\none another of Apollo, Ra, Baal-Samen of the Ph\u0153nicians, Shamas of the\nAssyrians, and other sun-gods, would lead one to think that there was an\narchetypal one; and to find this original one the intelligent mind would\nnaturally look to the East, to the region about the lower waters of the\nTigris and Euphrates, and with a reasonable expectation of discovering\nit there.[213] For among the Turanians, in that locality, the worship\nof the heavenly bodies undoubtedly first acquired prominence; and in\nthe same locality, too, among the same people, the worship of serpents,\naccording to Bryant,[214] who has written learnedly on the subject,\nbegan, and, as Fergusson says, not only originated but \u201cspread thence,\nas from a centre, to every country or land of the old world in which a\nTuranian people settled,\u201d[215] becoming adopted to some extent also by\nSemites and Aryans. From Hea, one of the three great gods (Ana, Hea, and\nBel) of the Accadio-Sumerians, and, later, of the people of Babylonia,\ndoubtless sprang some features of the Apollo myth, and possibly in\npart through Horus of the Egyptians. To Baal-Samen, the baal of the\nheavens, of the Ph\u0153nicians, Apollo had many points of resemblance. It\nhas been maintained, however, that Apollo was \u201ca pure growth of the Greek\nmind.\u201d[216] He was so in part.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 7.\u2014A SYMBOL OF HEA.]\n\nSpeaking of Hea, Lenormant says that it was he \u201cthat animated matter\nand rendered it fertile, that penetrated the universe and directed and\ninspired it with life.\u201d[217] As water was believed to be the vehicle\nof all life and the source of generation, he sprung from the ocean and\nwas regarded as amphibious. Oannes[218] was the name by which he was\nknown by the Greeks. Like Dagon, of the Philistines, whose prototype he\nwas, it was usual to give him the combined form of a fish and a man.\nOne of the symbols of him, according to Rawlinson,[219] was a serpent,\nan illustration of which is reproduced here. He was the god of life,\nand, significantly enough, the literal meaning of his name is serpent\nas well as life. Here, then, we have the serpent signifying life. This\nis a very noteworthy fact. In an interesting paper read in 1872 before\nthe Anthropological Institute of Great Britain, by Mr. C. S. Wake, it is\nvery properly said: \u201cIt is probable that the association with the serpent\nof the idea of healing arose from the still earlier recognition of that\nanimal as a symbol of life.\u201d[220]\n\nIt is not amiss to remark, in this connection, that it is curious fact\nthat the American Indians associated a serpent with the great sun-god,\nor, rather, the god of light, Manabozho,[221] a healing divinity, the\none that instituted the sacred Medicine-Feast. It is observed by Miss\nEmerson that \u201cApollo, as a god of medicine, was originally worshipped\nunder the form of a serpent,[222] and men worshipped him as a helper; and\nwe trace a similar idea among the Indians relative to Manabozho. And a\nfurther association of ideas suggests the mystic god, Unk-ta-he, the god\nof waters, pictured as a serpent, who was believed to have power over\ndiseases.\u201d[223] To this I may add that Hea sprang from the Persian Gulf,\nand was regarded as the god of waters as well as of life.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 8.\u2014MANABOZHO.]\n\nA great deal has been written on serpent-worship, \u201cthe first variation,\u201d\nsays Bryant, \u201cfrom the purer Sabaism;\u201d[224] and the number of suggested\nexplanations of the curious cultus is almost legion. I hesitate about\ntouching on the subject; but some statements on it are called for, to\nrender the treatment of the matter on hand reasonably complete.\n\nIn a recent able work, Mr. C. F. Keary, of the British Museum, presents\nsome interesting facts and inferences on the origin of the worship.\nHe maintains that the tree, mountain, and river were the three great\nprimitive fetich-gods, and forcibly argues that a serpent was the symbol\nof the last, which, it may be noted, is nearly always a life-giving\npower, an early and substantial type of the _fontaine de jouvence_.\nWithout pretending to account for their original worship, he \u201ctakes it\nfor certain that, at a very early time, rivers became through symbolism\nconfounded with serpents.\u201d[225]\n\nRemnants of the three fetich-gods of Mr. Keary are preserved in later\nand more abstract cults, and may be largely found in Indo-European\nmythologies. The Greeks and Romans appear to have regarded rivers and\nmountains with particular favor, while the Celts and Teutons were more\nespecially devoted to trees. The wells of knowledge and of magic and\nthe fountains of youth which are met with in myth and legend are simply\nthe narrowing to particular instances of the magic, the sacredness, and\nthe healing gifts which were once universally attributed to streams.\nThe monstrous python which Apollo encountered and destroyed at Delphi\nwas, according to Mr. Keary, a river, and a harmful one,\u2014the river of\ndeath. \u201cThe reptile was, we know,\u201d says he, \u201cbefore all things, sacred\nto \u00c6sculapius, and was kept in his house, as, for example, in the great\ntemple at Epidaurus. It would seem that the sun-god has the special\nmission of overcoming and absorbing unto himself this form of fetich.\nThis is why Apollo slays the python, and why the snake is sacred to\n\u00c6sculapius.\u201d[226]\n\nMr. Keary was by no means the first, I may say, to emphasize the\nassociation of serpents with rivers. The fact has been dwelt on by Dr.\nBrinton. Says this distinguished student of American arch\u00e6ology: \u201cThe\nsinuous course of the serpent is like nothing so much as that of a\nwinding river; which, therefore, we often call serpentine. So did the\nIndians. Kennebec, a stream in Maine, in the Algonkin, means snake,\nand Antietam, the creek in Maryland of tragic celebrity, in an Iroquois\ndialect, has the same significance. How easily could savages, construing\nthe figure literally, make the serpent a river- or water-god.\u201d[227]\n\nI believe, however, that it would be a mistake to hold that the serpent\nwas at any time exclusively a symbol of the river. Both Mr. Keary and\nDr. Brinton say as much. In the old world, as well as in the new, it was\nwidely recognized as a symbol of lightning, and believed to have power\nover wind and rain.\n\nSome have turned to the heavens for an explanation of serpent-worship.\nThus, Mr. Arthur Lillie, in an interesting little work, says: \u201cLike\nall old religious ideas, the serpent-symbol was, probably, in the\nfirst instance, astronomical.[228] Two thousand eight hundred and\nthirty-six years before Christ, a large star was within one degree of\nthe celestial pole. This was the _A_ of Draco.\u201d[229] Much interest was\ntaken in this star of Draco, formerly, as Mr. Proctor says, \u201cthe polar\nconstellation\u201d[230] in different countries,[231] as, for instance, in\nEgypt. In their studies of the great pyramid Jizeh, both Proctor and\nPiazzi Smyth[232] dwell on the subject at length.[233] The passage from\nthe north, which slants downward at an angle of 26\u00b0 17\u00b4 into the immense\nstructure, would seem to have been constructed so that _A_ of Draco shone\ndown it. When this was the case, the star was 3\u00b0 42\u00b4 from the pole,\nwhich was its position both about 2170 and 3350 B.C. \u201cWe conclude,\u201d says\nProctor, \u201cwith considerable confidence, that it was about one of the two\ndates, 3350 and 2170 B.C., that the erection of the great pyramid began,\nand from the researches of Egyptologists it has become all but certain\nthat the earlier of these dates is very near the correct epoch.\u201d[234]\nSmyth takes 2170 B.C. as the correct date, but his unscientific method\nof study renders him an unreliable authority. The question is highly\ninteresting and important.\n\nHowever, the constellation of Draco was represented in ancient astronomy\nby a tortuous serpent, either alone or in connection with a tree. Those\nfamiliar with the description of the shield of Hercules,[235] attributed\nto Hesiod, and which, it is believed, was suggested by a Zodiac\ntemple[236] of the Chaldeans, imitations of which were to be found in\nEgypt and elsewhere, will recall the reference to Draco,[237] as follows:\u2014\n\n    \u201cThe scaly terror of a dragon coil\u2019d\n    Full in the central field; unspeakable;\n    With eyes oblique, retorted, that aslant\n    Shot gleaming flame; his hollow jaw was fill\u2019d\n    Dispersedly with jagged fangs of white,\n    Grim, unapproachable.\u201d[238]\n\nIt is hardly to be inferred from this description, I may remark, that\nthe worship of Draco would be one of love. Yet, Rawlinson says: \u201cThe\nstellar name of Hea was Kimmut; and it is suspected that in this aspect\nhe was identified with the constellation Draco, which is perhaps the\nKimmah[239] of Scripture.\u201d[240] This is an interesting statement when\ntaken in connection with what has been already said about Hea. To the\nAccadians and others the north was a favorable point, being the source of\ncool, vivifying breezes.\n\nBut, whether from fear or not, Draco inspired wide-spread attention and\nworship. Lillie remarks that the serpent of the \u201cthree precious gems\u201d of\nthe Buddhist, the serpent, sun, and tree, the A. U. M., is Draco at the\npole. The Tria Ratna, or three precious symbols of the faith, have, in\nthe representation given, their earliest emblem, except, perhaps, the\nswastika,[241] or cross, which was doubtless formed at one time of two\nserpents.[242]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 9.\u2014THE BUDDHIST TRIA RATNA.]\n\nIn the illustration, the serpent represents the male and the staff the\nfemale or negative principle. It has been asserted that we have in it the\nprototype of the caduceus of Hermes.\n\nThe assumption of the serpent as a totem,[243] or symbol, of a family\nor tribe has been held\u2014as, for example, by Mr. McLennan[244] and Sir\nJohn Lubbock[245]\u2014to afford an explanation of the origin and practice of\nserpent-worship. This honor was no doubt accorded the reptile at a very\nearly period and in different parts of the world; and it is still done\nby the Nagas of India and others. In speaking of Parium, a city of the\nTroad, Strabo says: \u201cIt is here the story is related that the Ophiogeneis\nhave some affinity with the serpent tribe.... According to fable the\nfounder of the race of Ophiogeneis, a hero, was transformed from a\nserpent into a man. He was, perhaps, one of the African Psylli.\u201d The\npower of curing by touch persons bitten by serpents[246] was claimed by\nthis tribe. David would seem to have belonged to the serpent family, as\nappears from the name of his ancestor, Naasson; and it has been suggested\nthat the brazen serpent found by Hezekiah, in the Temple of Solomon, was\na symbol of it. The friendliness of David to the king of Ammon is thus\nexplained.[247] Speaking of rattlesnakes, it is said, in Miss Emerson\u2019s\nwork, \u201cThese creatures were so highly esteemed that to have a serpent as\nhis totem elevated an Indian chief above his brothers.\u201d[248]\n\nThe fact of the same word meaning both serpent and life has been believed\nto cast light on the origin of the worship of serpents. After stating\nthat the reptile was always a symbol of life and health in Egypt and\nother countries, the Abb\u00e9 Pluche gives as the reason, \u201cbecause among\nmost of the Eastern nations, as the Ph\u0153nicians, Hebrews, Arabians,\nand others, with the language of which that of Egypt had an affinity,\nthe word _heve_ or _hava_ equally signifies the life and the serpent.\nThe name of _Him who is_, the great name of God, _Jov_ or _Jehova_,\nthence draws its etymology. _Heve_, or the name of the common mother of\nmankind, comes likewise from the same word. Life could not be painted,\nbut it might be marked out by the figure of the animal which bears its\nname.\u201d[249] According to Lenormant,[250] one of the generic names in\nthe Assyrian-Semitic tongue is _havon_, like the Arabian _hiyah_, both\nderived from the root _h\u00e2vah_, to live. From the same root came the Latin\n_ave_, a wish of good health, and also _\u00e6vum_, the life. The asp still\nbears the name of _naja haje_.\n\nIt is interesting to observe that the American Indians, as well as\nEastern peoples, made use of the serpent as a symbol of life. The\nbelief that the animal had power over the fertilizing summer showers\nwas probably at the bottom of it, as well as its title to god of\nfruitfulness. Says Dr. Brinton: \u201cBecause the rattlesnake, the lightning\nsymbol, is thus connected with the food of man, and itself seems\nnever to die, but annually to renew its youth, the Algonkins called\nit \u2018grandfather,\u2019 and king of snakes. They feared to injure it. They\nbelieved it could grant prosperous breezes or raise disastrous tempests.\nCrowned with the lunar crescent, it was the constant symbol of life in\ntheir picture-writing.\u201d[251] In the language of the Algonkins and of the\nDakotas, the words _manito_ and _waken_, which express divinity in its\nwidest sense, also signify serpent.\n\nMr. Wake entertains the opinion that the mainspring of serpent-worship\nwas a belief that the animal was really the embodiment of a deceased\nhuman being; or, in other words, that the worship was ancestral in\ncharacter. He says: \u201cThe serpent has been viewed with awe or veneration\nfrom primeval times and almost universally as a re-embodiment of\na deceased human being; and as such there were ascribed to it the\nattributes of life and wisdom and the power of healing.\u201d[252]\n\nBut little, however, in what has been said throws much light on the main\npoint at issue, namely, why the serpent should be yielded worship. The\ncause must be sought for, to some extent, in peculiarities of the animal\nitself. And it has peculiarities enough. Remarkable in form and in mode\nof locomotion, and in some species possessed of deadly venom, one might\nwell regard it with admiration and awe. Then, its longevity and apparent\npower of renewing its age serve to make it a very extraordinary creature.\nThe opinion has been expressed[253] that its power to glide along without\nlimbs, like the heavenly bodies, was the reason why it was held to be\nsacred. No doubt its remarkable power of motion in the absence of limbs\nforcibly impressed the ancients.[254] Solomon himself said that one of\nthe four things he could not understand was \u201cthe way of a serpent upon a\nrock.\u201d[255]\n\nHerbert Spencer maintains that the first step toward the worship of\nserpents and other animals was the naming or, rather, nicknaming of men\nafter creatures to which they bore some points of resemblance. Thus, from\nhaving apparently, like Holmes\u2019s Elsie Venner, some of the qualities of a\nsnake, one might be compared with the animal, and so named after it. Then\nthe descendants, out of regard for their ancestor,[256] might take the\nname, or, in other words, accept the snake as their totem.\n\nAlthough the \u00c6sculapian serpent was innocent, it was mostly a harmful\nspecies which received worship. The asp of the Egyptians and the cobra\nof the East Indians are decidedly venomous. Under the name of _ur\u00e6us_\nthe asp was a symbol of royalty in ancient Egypt. Ebers makes Rameses\nsay: \u201cMy predecessors chose the poisonous _ur\u00e6us_ as the emblem of\ntheir authority, for we can cause death as quickly and as certainly\nas the venomous snake.\u201d[257] The American Indians were devoted to the\nrattlesnake, which is extremely venomous. Thus, says Dr. Brinton: \u201cThe\nrattlesnake was the species almost exclusively honored by the red race.\nIt is slow to attack, but venomous in the extreme, and possesses the\npower of the basilisk to attract within its spring small birds and\nsquirrels.\u201d[258] Evidently the worship of such reptiles must have been\ninspired, in a measure at least, by fear. Still, it appears certain,\nas the author just quoted believes, that, as employed to express the\ndivine element in atmospheric and other natural phenomena, it far more\nfrequently typified what was favorable and agreeable than the reverse.\nEbers gives it as his opinion that \u201cmythological figures of snakes have\nquite as often a benevolent as a malevolent signification.\u201d[259]\n\nA word must be said about the phallic explanation of the origin of\nserpent-worship. Mr. Cox, an excellent writer on mythology, is friendly\nto this theory. After speaking of the phallus as a symbol, he says:\n\u201cWhen we add that from its physical characteristics the Ash\u00earah, which\nthe Greeks called the phallus, suggested the emblem of the serpent, we\nhave the key to the tree- and serpent-worship.\u201d[260] Beyond question, a\nphallus-serpent comes frequently into view in studying mythology, but it\nwould be very hard to prove that every serpent met with had its prototype\nin the phallus. It is to be regarded as beneficent, a life-giving power.\nThe Agathod\u00e6mon is frequently so represented.\n\nProbably the possibility of charming serpents has had something to\ndo with the remarkable uses to which these animals have been put. A\nperson who could handle without danger a venomous reptile, and control\nits actions at pleasure, might easily lead many to believe him to be\npossessed of some miraculous power. Aaron resorted to this artifice when\nhe appeared before Pharaoh with his cataleptic serpent, in the form of a\nrod.[261]\n\nThe reason just given seems better than the one Plutarch gives for the\nassociation of the serpent with certain great men, when he says, in\nhis \u201cLife of Cleomanes,\u201d that it was from a belief that after death\nevaporation of \u201cthe marrow\u201d[262] produces serpents;[263] that the\nancients appropriated the serpent, rather than any other animal, to\nheroes.\n\nI believe it is vain to attempt to trace the origin of serpent-worship to\none and the same source. This appears plain when it is remembered that\nsome serpents represented good, while others stood for the opposite,\nevil. The Bible furnishes a marked instance of contrasts: in one place\na serpent was used, as has been pointed out, as a symbol of God, or\nChrist, while elsewhere one represents cunning, envy, lying, and even\n\u201cthe devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world.\u201d[264] In the\nnature of things, one would expect the same species of reptile to\nproduce a very similar impression on primitive peoples everywhere. This,\nprobably, accounts largely for the resemblance to one another of most\nserpent-legends. The different impressions produced by different species\nwould, to some extent, explain the unlike significance of serpent-symbols\namong different peoples. The signification, however, was often of very\nfanciful origin, as, for example, where a serpent in the form of a circle\nsymbolized eternity, or, rather, endless life.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nVARIOUS ATTRIBUTES OF \u00c6SCULAPIUS.\n\n\nIn this chapter I will speak briefly of various attributes, more or less\ngenerally accorded to \u00c6sculapius. Some of them are decidedly significant,\nbut none so much so as the staff and serpent of which I have fully\ntreated.\n\nIn many, indeed most, of the representations of \u00c6sculapius, he is\ncrowned with A WREATH OF LAUREL. This mark of merit, like rays of light\nwhich were given in some instances, has been commonly held to have been\naccorded him because he was the son of Apollo, to whom the tree was\nsacred. According to this view, one has in it a remnant of the oracular\nlaurel at Delphi. Another way of accounting for it is, to use the words\nof Tooke, \u201cbecause that tree is powerful in curing many diseases,\u201d[265]\nan exaggerated claim. The ancients regarded it as effective against evil\nspirits.[266]\n\nA BUNCH OF HERBS was at times represented in one of the hands of the\ngod. This was very appropriate. The district of Greece[267] in which,\naccording to the legend, he studied under Chiron, was famous for its\nmedicinal plants.\n\nA BOWL was occasionally shown in connection with figures of \u00c6sculapius.\nIt was indicative of the administration by him of medicinal potions.\n\nA SCROLL was an attribute of some \u00c6sculapian figures. It is an admirable\none for an ideal physician. In modern times it should certainly be\nregarded as an indispensable one. Medicine has been evolved from recorded\nexperience, and its progress is dependent on the same.\n\nAn unpublished discovery of any kind is, in a manner, none at all.\nCuriously enough the name of the Egyptian god of medicine, Imhotep,\nmeans, \u201cI bring the offering,\u201d the ideograph for _hotep_, or offering,\nbeing a papyrus roll.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 10.\u2014TELESPHORUS.]\n\nI will now say a few words about a remarkable attribute of some\nrepresentations of the god of medicine. I refer to TELESPHORUS,\nEUEMERION, or ACESIUS,[268] a small figure, a boy, but not a son, as is\nsometimes stated. As will be seen in the cut of him given, and which is\ncopied from one given by Tooke,[269] as seen in a statue in the Louvre,\nhe is wrapped in a mantle and is barefooted. Figures of him, however,\nvary considerably in appearance. In him we have, according to some, a\nsort of d\u00e6mon or familiar spirit, such as that which Socrates is said to\nhave had. It is better, I think, to regard him as a genius,[270] meant to\nsymbolize the hidden sustaining vital force, the _vis medicatrix natur\u00e6_,\nor _anima medica_, upon which greatly depends the recovery of the sick.\nIt has been suggested that the careful wrapping may be intended to\nindicate the need of such protection during convalescence.\n\nThe DOG was prominent in connection with the Epidaurian and other statues\nof \u00c6sculapius. The fidelity and watchfulness of this friendly animal\nrender it a very fit attribute of the god. The part played with the goat,\naccording to the legend, has been taken by some to afford an explanation\nof the connection. Another is furnished by the name, which, as will be\npointed out in the next chapter, apparently means man-dog.\n\nThe Parsis believed that dogs with four eyes could drive away the\ndeath-fiend; but such not being procurable, one \u201cwith two spots above\nthe eyes\u201d was used for the purpose. In their great sacred book,[271] the\nanimal is represented to be the special one of Ormazd. Herodotus states\nthat the Magi do not hesitate to kill all animals, \u201cexcepting dogs and\nmen.\u201d[272]\n\nThe Oriental Mardux, in whom was assimilated the more ancient\nSilik-mulu-khi, a healing divinity, was attended by dogs, as was Nimrod,\nthe hunter, with whom he may have been identical.[273]\n\nThe COCK, as well as the dog, was a prominent attribute in many\nrepresentations of \u00c6sculapius. This alert bird, a bird watchful of the\nreturning light, was very properly associated with a sun-god. It was a\ncommon object of sacrifice to the god, by patients who were grateful\nfor relief or cure. Socrates has, through Plato, made this memorable.\nSaid the dying sage, as he felt his limbs growing cold: \u201cWhen the poison\nreaches the heart, that will be the end.\u201d Feeling his body gradually\nlosing its vital heat, and realizing that relief from his troubles was at\nhand, he said, as he passed away, \u201cCrito, I owe a cock to \u00c6sculapius;\nwill you remember to pay the debt?\u201d \u201cThe debt shall be paid,\u201d responded\nhis friend.[274]\n\nThe practice of sacrificing[275] a cock for the restoration of health\nwas not exclusively practiced by the votaries of \u00c6sculapius. In his\n\u201cLife of Pyrrhus, King of Epirus,\u201d Plutarch says that \u201ca white cock\u201d was\nsacrificed generally by each of the patients he touched \u201cfor swelling\nof the spleen.\u201d The full quotation will be given in a succeeding\nchapter. The bird is still sacrificed in some parts of Scotland and\nother countries, for the removal of at least one disease,\u2014epilepsy. Dr.\nMitchell, of Edinburgh, states that the practice is very familiar to\nhim. In the northern part of his native country, \u201con the spot,\u201d says he,\n\u201cwhere the epileptic first falls, a black cock is buried alive, along\nwith a lock of the patient\u2019s hair and some parings of his nails.\u201d[276]\n\nThere is yet another animal associated with the god of medicine,\u2014the\nGOAT. It was especially by the Cyrenians that the connection was much\nemphasized. Pausanias remarks that \u201cthe Cyrenians sacrifice goats,\nalthough this rite was not delivered by the Epidaurians.\u201d[277] Still,\nas already pointed out, on Epidaurian coins, \u00c6sculapius was represented\nsucking a goat,\u2014an illustration of the legend.\n\nWhy the goat was connected in sacrifice with the god is explained by\nTooke thus: \u201cA goat is always in a fever, and, therefore, a goat\u2019s\nconstitution is very contrary to health.\u201d[278] Shakespeare, in \u201cKing\nLear,\u201d uses the phrase \u201cgoatish disposition\u201d in reference to a\n\u201cwhoremaster man.\u201d The fabled satyrs were in part goats in form. I am not\naware that there was anything of the Biblical scape-goat principle[279]\nabout the sacrifice, a superstition similar to the one which prevailed\n\u201call over Egypt,\u201d as we are told by Herodotus,[280] of praying that evils\nimpending over the people might fall on the head of the sacrificial\nvictim, and then casting it into the Nile, if there was no Greek at hand\nto whom it could be sold.\n\nThe great prominence of the goat in the \u00c6sculapian rites in Cyrene may\nhave been due, to some extent at least, to the proximity of Egypt, a\ncountry in which the animal played a prominent part. In the goat of\nMendes,[281] the incarnation of Khem or Min, was personified, says\nLenormant, \u201cin the most brutish manner the reproductive power.\u201d[282] Both\nthe goat and the cock were often associated with the Egyptian Hermes.\n\nI may add that the cause of the association of the goat with \u00c6sculapius\nhas been referred to the name. The Abb\u00e9 Banier states the case thus:\n\u201c_Es_ or _ex_, which begins the name of the god, signifies a goat in the\nlanguage of the Ph\u0153nicians,[283] and, with a little variation, the same\nthing in Greek;[284] and this had given rise to the fable of \u00c6sculapius\nbeing nursed by that animal.\u201d[285]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\nGODS ANALOGOUS TO \u00c6SCULAPIUS.\n\n\nThe great eminence acquired by the \u00c6sculapian myth among the Grecians\nmight reasonably lead to the belief that it was one entirely special to\nthat imaginative people. Like many other gods, however, of both high\nand low degree, this one was only in part \u201cto the manor born.\u201d There is\ngood ground for believing that there was what might justly be called a\nprototype of the divinity of much repute in both Ph\u0153nicia and Egypt.\nDr. Mayo does not hesitate to say that \u201c\u00c6sculapius was actually known\nin the Oriental countries before he was in Greece, whither his worship\nwas brought from Ph\u0153nicia by the colony of Cadmus and from Egypt by that\nof Danaus.\u201d[286] It is not improbable that the main conception of the\nhealing god did really long antedate not only the Grecian but both the\nPh\u0153nician and Egyptian embodiments of it. Evidence of this will be found\nlater in the chapter.\n\nThe ESMUN \u201cthe Eighth\u201d of the Ph\u0153nicians, especially worshipped at\nBerytus,[287] has been regarded[288] as essentially the same as the\nGrecian \u00c6sculapius. He was probably that and something more. Little\ndefinite is known of this personage, of whom the serpent was a symbol,\nsave what we are told of him in the fragment of an historical work by\nSanchoniathon, preserved by Eusebius, an early Christian writer. \u201cTo\nSydyk, called the Just,\u201d it is said, \u201cone of the Titanides[289] bore\nEsmun.\u201d[290] He is represented to have been the eighth and chief of those\nspared by the deluge, and also of the Cabiri, or Cabeiri,[291] \u201cthe seven\nsons of Sydyk,\u201d[292] the mighty ones, named, it has been said,[293] after\nmountains in Phrygia, and divinities widely, but in general secretly,\nadored, in Ph\u0153nicia, Carthage,[294] Egypt,[295] and elsewhere.\n\nThe belief has been expressed that Noah and his family and the Cabiri\nwere originally the same.[296] Mr. Faber entertained this view, and\nit is fully set forth by him in an interesting work,\u2014one, by the way,\nin which is ably presented the so-called Arkite symbolism,[297] which\nhas excited considerable attention, but which Mr. Tylor, as well as\nmany others, declares to be \u201carrant nonsense.\u201d[298] In reference to\n\u00c6sculapius he says: \u201cThis deity connects the first and second tables of\nthe Ph\u0153nician genealogies, his father, Sydyk, occupying a conspicuous\nplace in the one, while his mother, Titanis, is enumerated among the\ndaughters of Cronus, in the other. I am much inclined to think that the\nimaginary god of health is in reality the very same person as his reputed\nfather, Sydyk, both of them being equally the patriarch, Noah, worshipped\nin connection with the sun. Macrobius, accordingly, informs us that\n\u00c6sculapius was one of the many names of the solar deity, and that he was\nusually adored along with Salus, or the Moon.[299] Salus, however, was\nno less a personification of the ark than of the moon, those two objects\nof idolatrous veneration being allied to each other in consequence of\nthe union of the Arkite and Sabian superstitions. Thus, while Noah\nwas revered as the god of health and as one of the eight Cabiri, the\nvessel in which he was preserved was honored with the title of Salus, or\nSafety.\u201d[300]\n\nLenormant regards the Cabiri as the seven planets of the ancients; that\nis, the Sun, Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Venus, and Mercury. \u201cEsmun,\u201d\nsays he, \u201cinvisible to mortal eyes, was supposed to be the connecting\nlink of the seven others and the one approaching nearest to the\nprimordial Baal.[301] He presided over the whole sideral system, and was\nsupposed to preside over the laws and harmonies of the universe, and in\nthis respect was the same as Taaut.\u201d[302]\n\nAlthough secret, the worship of the Cabiri was participated in by persons\nof either sex and of all ages. In Lemnos and other places the fires were\nput out, sacrifices to the dead were made, and fire was brought from\nDelos in a sacred vessel and given to the people, who, with it, began a\nnew and regenerated existence. Phallic rites formed an inseparable part\nof the worship, which was indulged in at stated periods.\n\nAs showing that \u00c6sculapius was of Ph\u0153nician origin, Mr. Faber lays\nemphasis on the fact that in the edition of Virgil by Servius the line\ntelling of the destruction of the god makes him a Ph\u0153nician:\u2014\n\n    \u201c_Fulmine P\u0153nigenam Stygias detrusit ad undas._\u201d[303]\n\nThe usual and, doubtless, the right reading makes _P\u0153nigenam_,\n_Ph\u0153bigenam_.\n\nThe opinion that \u00c6sculapius was essentially the same as ANUBIS among the\nearly Egyptians has been advanced. Both were viewed as simply divine\npersonifications of Sirius, or Sothis, the dog-star.[304] This view is\nwell presented by M. Pluche.\n\nA study of the name[305] \u00c6sculapius may or may not afford evidence in\nfavor of the idea that there was originally a connection between the god\nand the dog-star. Although decidedly a Grecian god, Asklepios does not\nappear to be a Greek word. Keightly goes so far as to say, \u201cOf his name\nno satisfactory derivation has as yet been offered.\u201d[306] He ventures,\nhowever, to suggest that it may be from the root \u03c3\u03c7\u03ac\u03bb\u03bb\u03c9, the original\nmeaning of which may have been to cut, whence the Latin _scalpo_ and our\nown word _scalpel_. Mr. Keightly forgot that the name was not necessarily\nGreek; for that, like nearly all others, was largely a derivative\nlanguage. In the Greek as well as the Latin form, it may be Hebrew, or,\nwhat was essentially the same, Ph\u0153nician. Taking it to be compounded of\n_esh_, _aish_, _isch_, or _ish_,[307] a man, and _caleb_,[308] _caleph_,\nor _culap_, a dog, the literal meaning of it is _vir-canis_, or man-dog.\nBut, as some remarks already made indicate, it may be interpreted to mean\n_goat-dog_.[309]\n\nANUBIS, ANUP, or ANUPU, who in very early times was possibly the same as\nThoth, was regarded as symbolic of that brightest of the fixed stars,\nSirius, \u201cthe burning,\u201d whose first appearance in the morning was the\nsignal of the advent of the warm season, and the Etesian or periodic wind\nfrom the north, as well as the beginning of the year.[310] The rising\nof this notable star heliacally\u2014that is, with the sun[311]\u2014told the\nEgyptians to prepare at once for the overflow of the waters of the Nile.\nBy many it was believed to be the cause of the flood. The watch-dog was\nevidently a very appropriate symbol for this star of warning. Then, from\nthe fact that Sirius gave warning of danger, and thus saved the lives\nof the people, to the symbols of it the serpent, the life-symbol, was\noften and very properly attached. \u201cOn this account it was,\u201d says Pluche,\n\u201cthat Anubis and \u00c6sculapius passed for the inventors of physic and the\npreservers of life.\u201d[312]\n\nOthers besides the Egyptians regarded Sirius with favor;[313] as, for\nexample, the Parsis, to whom it was \u201cTystria, the bright and glorious\nstar.\u201d[314] In Greece, however, it was not regarded as propitious. To it\nwere attributed certain diseases. Thus, Homer, who calls it Orion\u2019s dog,\nsays:\u2014\n\n                                    \u201cHis burning breath\n    Taints the red air with fevers, plagues, and death.\u201d[315]\n\nRemembering the medical history of Sirius, it is worth while recalling\nthat the \u201cdog-days,\u201d those extending from about the 22d of July to the\n23d of August, are often spoken of as the physician\u2019s holiday.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 11.\u2014ANUBIS.]\n\nOne very often hears that THOTH was to the Egyptians the god of medicine,\njust as \u00c6sculapius was to the Greeks and Romans. Even the late Dr. Aitken\nMeigs, a scholarly physician, accepted this idea. In an address, to be\nreferred to later, he says: \u201c\u00c6sculapius is, doubtless, the Egyptian\nThoth, or Hermes Trismegistus, whose symbols, the staff and twining\nserpent, surmounted with the mystic hawk of Horus-Ra and the solar\nur\u00e6us,[316] appear in the ancient temple Pselcis, near Dakkeh, in Nubia.\u201d\nThe Doctor is about as wide of the mark as Forbes Winslow, when he says\nthat the Grecian \u201cApollo and Minerva answered to the Isis and Osiris of\nthe Egyptians; and Orpheus, the priest, poet, and physician, usurped the\nplace of Thoth.\u201d[317]\n\nHERMES, THOTH, or THOT, the TET or TAAUTES of the Ph\u0153nicians, was not the\ngod of medicine among the Egyptians, any more than he was the god of any\nother special branch of knowledge. He was the patron god of all kinds of\nlearning.\n\nSays Ebers: \u201cThe discovery of nearly every science is attributed to the\nibis-headed god, Thoth, the writer or clerk of heaven, whom the Greeks\ncompared to their god, Hermes.\u201d[318]\n\nIt is no doubt true, however, that Hermes was credited with taking\nconsiderable interest in medical matters. He was said to have been the\nauthor of six books on the healing art, in which anatomy, pathology, and\ntherapeutics were treated of, together with diseases of the eye,\u2014a part\nof the body which has always suffered much in Egypt. Ebers remarks that\n\u201cthe book on the use of medicine has been preserved to the present day in\nthe \u2018Papyrus-Ebers.\u2019\u201d[319]\n\nHaving referred to the \u201cPapyrus-Ebers,\u201d it may be well to say a few\nwords about it. It was discovered a few years ago by the learned and\nversatile Egyptologist, Herr Ebers, and is the best preserved of all the\nancient Egyptian manuscripts extant. It was written at Sais during the\neighteenth dynasty; that is, in the sixteenth century before our era. It\nconsists of 110 pages. In it we have the hermetic medical work of the\nancient Egyptians, with the contents of which the Alexandrian Greeks\nwere familiar. The god Thoth is called in it \u201cthe Guide\u201d of physicians,\nand the composition of it is attributed to him. This venerable document\ntreats of many internal and external diseases of most parts of the body.\nSpecial attention is given to the visual organs. Drugs belonging to all\nthe kingdoms of nature are used, and with those prescribed are numbers\naccording to which they are weighed with weights and measured with hollow\nvessels. Accompanying the prescriptions are noted the pious axioms to\nbe repeated by the physician while compounding and giving them to the\npatient. The German government has published the work in _fac-simile_,\na copy of which I have examined. There is a copy of it, I think, in the\nAstor Library, New York.\n\nMedicine certainly consisted of more than charms and the like, at a very\nearly period, in Egypt. Indeed, in the remains of Manetho\u2019s history of\nthe country, it is said of the successor of Menes, the first king of\nthe first dynasty, which dates back to about 4000 years before our era:\n\u201cAthothis, his son, reigned 57 years; he built the palaces at Memphis,\nand left the anatomical books, for he was a physician.\u201d[320] The custom\nof embalming the dead necessarily led to at least a rough knowledge of\nthe anatomy of the body.\n\nSESOSTRIS, or SESORTOSIS, the second king of the third dynasty, sometimes\ngets credit for being \u201cthe actual founder of medicine.\u201d[321] Manetho\nsays of him: \u201cHe is called Asclepius by the Egyptians, for his medical\nknowledge.\u201d[322]\n\nAccording to Herodotus and Diodorus, medical practice was carried on in\na highly rational way at an early period in Egypt. Mr. Sayce ventures\nto say that in the period of the eighteenth dynasty medicine was \u201cin\nalmost as advanced a state as in the age of Galen; the various diseases\nknown were carefully distinguished from one another, and their symptoms\nwere minutely described, as well as their treatment. The prescriptions\nrecommended in each case are made out in precisely the same way as the\nprescriptions of a modern doctor.\u201d[323] Mr. Sayce bases these statements\non the \u201cPapyrus-Ebers.\u201d However, we are informed by Herodotus that\nspecialists were common when he visited the country, which was about\n450 years before our era; but this must not be accepted as proof that\nmedicine was necessarily in a very advanced state. Here is what the\nGrecian historian says: \u201cMedicine is practiced among them on a plan of\nseparation; each physician treats a single disorder, and no more. Thus,\nthe country swarms with medical practitioners, some undertaking to cure\ndiseases of the eye; others, of the head; others, again, of the teeth;\nothers, of the intestines; and some, those which are not local.\u201d[324]\nAs to their philosophy of morbid conditions, he says: \u201cThey have a\npersuasion that every disease to which men are liable is occasioned by\nsubstances whereon they feed.\u201d This doctrine led them \u201cto purge the body\nby means of emetics and clysters\u201d for \u201cthree successive days in each\nmonth.\u201d[325]\n\nIn respect to medical specialism in Egypt, I may further say that,\naccording to Ebers,[326] as early as 1500 before our era, any one\nrequiring a physician sent for him, not to his house, but to the\ntemple. There a statement was obtained from the messenger concerning\nthe complaint from which the sick person was suffering; and then it was\nleft to the principal of the medical staff of the sanctuary to select\nthat master of the healing art whose special knowledge and experience\nqualified him to be best suited for the treatment of the case. No\nhonorarium was expected from the patient. The fee was paid by the State.\n\nAccording to Canon Rawlinson, it is an open question whether, as is often\nsaid, the physicians of ancient Egypt formed a special division of the\nsacerdotal order; \u201cthough, no doubt, some of the priests were required\nto study medicine.\u201d[327] It is interesting to connect with this the\nfollowing statement from an authoritative work: \u201cThere is no sign in the\nHomeric poems of the subordination of medicine to religion, which is seen\nin ancient Egypt and India.\u201d[328]\n\nIt has been asserted that \u201cmedicine in Egypt was a mere art, or\nprofession.\u201d[329] That this assertion is ridiculously untrue any one\nknows who is competent to form an opinion on medical subjects, and who\nhas read the Pentateuch. Moses, whose learning was Egyptian, had a\nwonderful knowledge of hygiene,\u2014the most important part of medicine. The\nmanner of dealing with contagious diseases described in the thirteenth\nand fourteenth chapters of Leviticus is far in advance of our practice\nto-day. So intent were the Egyptians on knowing the nature of diseases\nthat _post-mortem_ examinations were, it is said by Pliny, resorted to\nfor the purpose. Unlike the religion of the Hebrews, theirs did not teach\nthem to dread touching the dead. But one has the authority of Celsus\nfor saying that the latter physicians, those of the Alexandrian school,\nwere not satisfied with the dissection of the dead; they went so far as\nto make _ante-mortem_ examinations of criminals. In truth, Mr. Sayce\nproperly observes that it was \u201cin medicine that Egypt attained any real\nscientific eminence.\u201d[330]\n\nJeremiah, speaking of \u201cthe daughter of Egypt,\u201d says: \u201cIn vain shalt\nthou use many medicines; for thou shalt not be cured.\u201d[331] This remark\nindicates that the skillful use of medicines by the Egyptians was widely\nnoised abroad over five centuries before our era. Both Cyrus and Darius\nsent to Egypt for physicians.[332] Hippocrates, however, who lived nearly\ntwo centuries later than the prophet, gives no prominence to Egyptian\nmedicine. But much earlier, indeed, than this time, it is evident from\nthe works of Homer that it was in repute among the Greeks. Thus, to\nremove the grief and rage caused by the death of brave Antilochus, we are\ntold that the famous Helen of Sparta, who takes on the occasion the r\u00f4le\nof _une femme m\u00e9decin_,\u2014\n\n    \u201cMix\u2019d a mirth-inspiring bowl,\n    Temper\u2019d with drugs of sovereign power t\u2019 assuage\n    The boiling bosom of tumultuous rage.\n    ...\n    These drugs so friendly to the joys of life\n    Bright Helen learn\u2019d from Thone\u2019s imperial wife,[333]\n    Who sway\u2019d the sceptre, where prolific Nile\n    With various simples clothes the fatten\u2019d soil.\u201d[334]\n\nAgain, it is said of the Pharian or Egyptian race:\u2014\n\n    \u201cFrom P\u00e6on sprung, their patron god imparts\n    To all the Pharian race his healing arts.\u201d[335]\n\nSuch statements as those just made would seem to render it more than\nprobable that not a little of Grecian medicine was of Egyptian origin.\nPliny, indeed, says that it was claimed that the study of medicine was\nbegun in Egypt.[336] Blakie, however, ventures to affirm that \u201cthe\nknowledge of medicine came to the Greeks originally from Thessaly, one\nof the earliest seats of Hellenic civilization, as is evident from the\npedigree of Coronis.\u201d[337] At any rate, it is certain that, for some time\nbefore and after the beginning of the Christian era, Alexandria was a\ngreat medical centre. There it was that Herophilus and Erasistratus lived\nand imperishably distinguished themselves two centuries or so B.C.\n\nBut I must return to Hermes, from whom I have been wandering, perhaps,\ntoo far and too long. Although I am not disposed to give the medical\nposition to him that some have questionably done, I deem it wise to\nsay a few words especially about him. Lenormant believes that he was\noriginally the angel of Baal, Mal\u00e2k-Baal, who, like him, assimilated with\nthe Agathod\u00e6mon.[338] It is generally believed that he came to Egypt from\nPh\u0153nicia.[339] He was usually represented[340] with the head of, not a\nhawk, but an ibis, a heart-shaped bird with the plumage white, except\nthe pinions and tail, which are black, and with long legs and beak, the\nlatter crooked. This bird was the symbol of him made use of in writing.\nBoth it[341] and a species[342] black in color are well described by\nHerodotus. Mummified specimens of it are to be seen in an excellent state\nof preservation in museums, as, for instance, in that of the Academy of\nNatural Sciences of Philadelphia.\n\nI may observe in this connection that an Ibis Society would be the same\nas a Hermes Society. Neither title is very suitable for a medical one. I\nhave heard of an Ibex Society; but, of course, the ibis and the ibex are\nentirely different creatures.\n\nHorus himself, whose \u201cface is in the shape of the divine hawk,\u201d[343] and\nwho, in some respects, resembles Apollo, was believed to possess medical\npower.[344] Murray even says, \u201cHorus was reputed to have been deeply\nversed in the practice of medicine, and, accordingly, was compared with\n\u00c6sculapius.\u201d[345]\n\nCHONSU, or CHONSU-NEFER-HOTEP,[346] the son of Amun and Mut, the third of\nthe great Theban triad, was regarded as a healing divinity. Says Tiele:\n\u201cHe was resorted to for the cure of all diseases, or for the exorcism of\nall the evil spirits who inflict them.\u201d[347] He resembled Thoth somewhat.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 12.\u2014THOTH.]\n\nFrom the third century before our era forward SERAPIS was highly esteemed\nfor his healing power.[348] He was in part a Grecian conception, being\nfirst prominent in Pontus, and his worship became popular in many\nsections of Greece and Rome; but Alexandria was his chief seat, and\nhis serapeum there was of great magnificence and renown.[349] He was\nrepresented in various ways, often as a man encircled by a serpent.\n\nThe special personage corresponding to \u00c6sculapius, among the Egyptians,\nwould seem to have been IMHOTEP, EIMOPTH, IMOTHPH, EIMOTHPH, or EMEPH,\na god whose shrine was first discovered by Salt,[350] the Egyptologist,\nat Phil\u00e6. A Greek inscription on the shrine reads: \u201c\u00c6sculapius, who is\nImuthes, son of Vulcan.\u201d In accordance with the inscription, Sir Erasmus\nWilson says: \u201cImhotep, the IMUTHES of the Greeks, corresponded with their\n\u00c6sculapius.\u201d[351] Ebers, probably the best of authorities on the subject,\nsays of Imhotep: \u201cHe was the son of Ptah, and named Asklepios by the\nGreeks. Memphis[352] was the chief city of his worship. He is usually\nrepresented with a cap on his head and a book on his knee. There are\nfine statues of him at Berlin, the Louvre, and other museums.\u201d[353] It\nis said by Tiele that \u201che is a personification of the sacrificial fire,\u201d\nthat \u201cthe texts designate him as the first of the Cher-hib,\u201d a class of\npriests who were at the same time choristers and physicians, for the\nsacred hymns were believed to have a magical power as remedies, and that\nhis worship, although of ancient date, \u201cdoes not seem ever to have taken\na prominent place.\u201d[354]\n\nOf Imhotep I may further say, in the way of biography, that he was the\nson of Ptah and Sekhet, and was possibly a king of the sixth dynasty. In\nthe Egyptian system of mythology, Ptah, \u201che who forms,\u201d the god of fire,\nwas regarded as the father of the gods and the great artificer of the\nworld. He bore a resemblance to Heph\u00e6stus,[355] a god, indeed, who had\nthe gift of healing.\n\nAfter all, it is necessary to say that there is but little evidence\nto establish the claim of Imhotep to the title of god of medicine. As\nKenrick says, \u201cHe has no attribute which specially refers to the art\nof healing, and it may be an arbitrary interpretation of the Greeks\nwhich gave him the name of \u00c6sculapius, as some applied the same to\nSerapis.\u201d[356] Whether he was a medical worthy or not, it appears from\nquotations from his teachings given in a song, recently translated from a\npapyrus in the British Museum, that he was of decidedly epicurean views.\n\u201cFulfill,\u201d says he, \u201cthy desire whilst thou livest;\u201d and again: \u201cFeast in\ntranquility, seeing that there is no one who carries away his good things\nwith him.\u201d[357]\n\nHowever, as a matter of interest, I will give the name of the god in\nthe Egyptian characters.[358] The double reed stands for a long _i_, or\n_ei_, the owl for _m_, and the other three figures\u2014the table, semicircle,\nand square\u2014for _h_ _t_ _p_. As will be observed, the _o_ and _e_ of the\nideographic combination, _hotep_,[359] are not given. The reason of this\nis, that in writing, the Egyptians, like the Hebrews and others, commonly\nomitted the vowels, except at the beginning and end of words. The meaning\nof the name is rendered by Bunsen, \u201cI come with the offering.\u201d[360]\n\nAn early Aryan divinity has been stated to be an analogue or even the\nprototype of \u00c6sculapius. Mr. Faber refers to Captain Wilford as holding\nthat the classical health and life restorer \u201cis the Hindoo ASWICULAPA,\nor the chief of the race of the horse, and he further intimates that\nAswiculapa was very nearly related to the two hero-gods who are evidently\nthe same as Castor and Pollux. These were believed to be the children of\nthe sun and the goddess Devi, the sun at the time of their intercourse\nhaving assumed the form of a horse and Devi that of a mare.\u201d[361] He\nhardly presents the real opinion expressed by the Captain, but, at any\nrate, what he has to say is not extremely important.[362]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 13.\u2014IMHOTEP.]\n\nThe ASWI, ASVI, or ASVINS were two, and were possibly the prototypes of\nthe Dioscuri,[363] Castor and Pollux. They were connected with the sun as\nhorses. Taking them to be forms of the Dioscuri, they might be related to\nthe two sons of \u00c6sculapius, Machaon and Podalirius, for these have been\nregarded as such,\u2014\u201cnothing more than a specific form of the Dioscuri,\u201d to\nuse the words of De Gubernatis.[364] The conception of Chiron may have\nbeen in part derived from the Asvins.\n\nThe Asvins were worshipped from an early period by the Hindus, reference\nto them being made in the oldest hymns. Cox says of them, \u201cAs ushering\nin the healthful light[365] of the sun, they are like Asclepios and his\nchildren, healers and physicians; and their power of restoring the aged\nto youth re-appears in Medeia, the daughter of the sun.\u201d[366] In the\n\u201cRig-Veda\u201d they are characterized as \u201cgivers of happiness,\u201d[367] and are\nsaid \u201cto be most ready to come to the aid of the destitute.\u201d[368] They\nwere believed to be conversant with all medicaments.\n\nTHRITA of the Parsis, the TRITA of the Hindus, is a remarkable healing,\nsemi-divine personage, of whom a great deal is said in the \u201cZend Avesta\u201d\nand other sacred books of Aryan peoples of the east. According to the\n\u201cZend Avesta,\u201d which is from a common source with the \u201cVedas,\u201d he is the\ncurer of the diseases caused by the great evil spirit, Ahriman. In the\n\u201cVedas\u201d he is said to extinguish illness in men as the gods extinguished\nit in him, and he can grant long life. He drinks S\u00f4ma, as did Indra, to\nacquire strength to kill the demon Vritra.\n\nIn the Parsi system of religion, Thrita received from the supreme god,\nAhura-Mazda,[369] ten thousand healing-plants, which had been growing\naround the tree of life, the white H\u00f4m,[370] the S\u00f4ma of the Hindus.\n\nThrita appears to have been one of the first priests of the personified\nsource of life and health,\u2014\u201cthe enlivening, healing, fair, lordly,\ngolden-eyed H\u00e2oma.\u201d[371] The destruction of a great serpent, Azi Dah\u00e2ka,\nthe most dreadful Drug,[372] created by Angra-Mainyu, himself a serpent,\nto which diseases were attributed, was one of his fabled feats.\n\nThere is much that is interesting to the physician in the \u201cZend Avesta,\u201d\nbut I cannot present it here. One interesting passage I may quote.\nAhura-Mazda is addressed thus: \u201cO Maker of the material world, thou Holy\nOne! If a worshipper of Mazda want to practice the art of healing, on\nwhom shall he first prove his skill? On the worshippers of Mazda, or on\nthe worshippers of the D\u00e6vas?\u201d[373] The reply is: \u201cOn the worshippers of\nthe D\u00e6vas he shall first prove himself.\u201d If on these the surgeon use the\nknife three times with success, \u201cthen is he fit to practice the art of\nhealing for ever and ever.\u201d[374]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 14.\u2014SILIK-MULU-KHI.[375]]\n\nSILIK-MULU-KHI, the son of Hea, was a remarkable divinity, of whom I\nfeel it desirable to speak. In him we have one kindly disposed toward\nman, a special friend of humanity, largely medical in character. What\nhe was has been unveiled, mainly of late, through the decipherment of\ncuneiform inscriptions. The Babylonians prized him highly.[376] He became\nassimilated with Mardux,[377] or Marodach, of the Babylono-Assyrians,\nand Bel, of later times.[378] Space forbids me to give a long account of\nhim. Much can be learned about him _passim_ in the admirable works of M.\nFran\u00e7ois Lenormant,[379] and in the \u201cRecords of the Past.\u201d[380]\n\nSilik-mulu-khi\u2014that is, \u201cHe who distributes good among men\u201d[381]\u2014was, as\nalready stated, the son of Hea, to whom he remained subject. He overcame\nthe dragon of the deep, and is spoken of as the Redeemer of mankind, the\nRestorer of life, and the Raiser from the dead. He took shape among the\nAccadio-Sumerians.\n\nHea, or Ea,[382] \u201cthe master of the eternal secrets,\u201d \u201cthe god who\npresides over theurgical action,\u201d revealed to Silik-mulu-khi \u201cthe\nmysterious rite, the formula, or the all-powerful hidden name which shall\nthwart the efforts of the most formidable powers of the Abyss.\u201d[383] Like\nApollo, he had special medical functions; indeed, Mr. Sayce observes that\n\u201che was emphatically the god of healing, who had revealed medicine to\nmankind.\u201d[384]\n\nAs the symbol of his office, Silik-mulu-khi carried a reed, which took\nthe place of both the royal sceptre and magic wand, and which was\ntransmitted to the Assyrian Mardux.[385] In a hymn it is said:\u2014\n\n    \u201cGolden reed, great reed, tall reed of the marshes, sacred bed of\n        the gods,\n    ...\n    I am the messenger of Silik-mulu-khi, who causes all to grow young\n        again.\u201d[386]\n\nAlthough Silik-mulu-khi\u2019s functions were largely medical, it is not to be\nsupposed that he resorted much to the use of medicaments. For it has not\nyet been made very apparent that medicine, properly so called, was much\nesteemed by the early Babylono-Assyrian peoples. Not long ago Mr. H. F.\nTalbot, in an interesting article on Assyrian talismans and exorcisms,\nsaid: \u201cDiseases were attributed to the influence of spirits. Exorcisms\nwere used to drive away those tormentors; and this seems to have been the\nsole remedy employed, for I believe that no mention has yet been found of\nmedicine.\u201d[387] This statement does not hold good now, as will be shown\nlater.[388]\n\nIn the cure of diseases the Babylono-Assyrian practitioners first duly\nguarded the entrance to the patient\u2019s chamber. Images or guardian statues\nof Hea and Silik-mulu-khi were placed one to the right and the other to\nthe left. Texts were put on the threshold and on the statues, after the\nmanner spoken of in Deuteronomy.[389] These were also placed on the brow\nof the patient and about the room. In bad cases recourse was had to the\n\u201cmamit,\u201d something which the evil spirits could not resist. Talbot gives\nthe following prescription from an Accadian tablet:\u2014\n\n    \u201cTake a white cloth. In it place the mamit in the sick man\u2019s right\n        hand;\n    And take a black cloth and wrap it round his left hand.\n    Then all the evil spirits, and the sins which he has committed,\n    Shall quit their hold of him and shall never return.\u201d[390]\n\nM. Lenormant gives a translation of an interesting magic tablet. Here is\na passage from it which the conjurer, the Shaman, is supposed to speak,\nending with the usual adjuration:\u2014\n\n    \u201cDisease of the bowels, the disease of the heart,\n    The palpitation of the heart,\n    Disease of the vision, disease of the head,\n    Malignant dysentery\n    The humor which swells,\n    Ulceration of the veins, the micturition which wastes,[391]\n    Cruel agony which never ceases,\n    Nightmare,\u2014\n    Spirit of the Heavens,[392] conjure it;\n    Spirit of the Earth,[393] conjure it.\u201d[394]\n\nWhat follows is part of an incantation against \u201cthe diseases of the\nhead\u201d:\u2014\n\n    \u201cThe diseases of the head, like doves to their dove-cots, like\n        grasshoppers into the sky,\n    Like birds into space,\u2014\n    May they fly away!\n    May the invalid be replaced in the protecting hands of his\n        god.\u201d[395]\n\nHere is the remedy for \u201cdiseases of the head,\u201d as given by Hea to\nSilik-mulu-khi:\u2014\n\n    \u201cCome my son, Silik-mulu-khi,\n    Take a sieve: draw some water from the surface of the river,\n    Place thy sublime lip upon the water;\n    Make it shine with purity from thy sublime breath, ...\n    Help the man, son of his god....\n    Let the disease of his head depart;\n    May the disease of his head be dispersed like a nocturnal dew.\u201d[396]\n\nI have already stated that Silik-mulu-khi became in time assimilated with\nthe god possessing beauty or splendor, Mardux.[397] Here are extracts\nfrom a hymn addressed to him after the change:\u2014\n\n    \u201cMerciful one among the gods,\n    Generator who brought back the dead to life,\n    Silik-mulu-khi, king of heaven and of earth.\n    ...\n    To thee is the lip of life!\n    To thee are death and life!\n    I have invoked thy name, I have invoked thy sublimity.\n    ...\n    May the invalid be delivered from his disease;\n    Cure the plague, the fever, the ulcer.\u201d[398]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\nTHE PINE-CONE AS AN ATTRIBUTE OF \u00c6SCULAPIUS.\n\n\nThe fruitful results of studies in oriental history, industriously and\nintelligently pursued by able and learned men in recent times, are making\nmore and more apparent the borrowed character of many features of the\ncivilization of Greece and other western nations. Greek, Latin, German,\nIrish, and other languages of the Indo-European races, have been shown\nto be largely derived from Sanskrit, or a source similar to it, and the\nvarious mythologies have also been proved to be more or less evolutions.\n\nOf late, the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Accadio-Sumerians, but\nespecially the last, who were, as is said in the Bible, both \u201ca mighty\u201d\nand \u201can ancient nation,\u201d[399] have been accorded a greater influence\nthan formerly on other peoples. There is little or no ground for doubt\nthat the first forms of belief, as well as art, came from the East. It\nis certain that in the fertile region, about the lower waters of the\nEuphrates and Tigris, there was, at very early period, a remarkable\nunfoldment of intellectual, social, and other elements of progress, from\nthe savage state. The ideas brought with them three thousand years or\nmore before our era, to the rich plains southward of Mesopotamia, and\ngathered there by the early inhabitants of the hills of Elam and their\nkin, the earlier inhabitants of Sumer,[400] have been potent everywhere\nto the westward.\n\nThese Turanians, a dark-complexioned people, were conquered by the\nSemites settled in parts to the west of Babylonia, by whom their culture\nand civilization were appropriated.[401]\n\nThe Accadio-Sumerians undoubtedly gave direction and shape to the\nreligions of Babylonia, Assyria, Ph\u0153nicia, and other countries, including\nEgypt. This means a great deal, for in the earlier stages of civilization\nthe religion, such as it may be, is a matter of the greatest possible\nsignificance, both in itself and its influence on everything else. The\nlanguage of the Accadio-Sumerians long served as the sacred one in\nBabylonia and Assyria,[402] and has been characterized by Mr. Sayce as\n\u201cthe Sanskrit of the Turanian family.\u201d[403] In it are the important early\ncuneiform inscriptions, all the originals of which were written eighteen\nhundred years or so before our era.\n\nThe medical ideas of the Accadio-Sumerian were closely related to his\nreligion; to him the cause and cure of disease were, to a great extent,\nin fact essentially, supernatural affairs. And thus, indeed, it has been\namong all early peoples. Nor is it probable that it will ever be entirely\notherwise anywhere. The same feelings which prompted the dweller in\nElam, or in the plains to the westward, to formulate his religion and\nphilosophy are still experienced by humanity. Even the myth-formers are\nnot all dead. The spirit of all the mythologies is yet alive. There are\ngods of fancy to-day, as there were when Ana and Hea and Bel were in the\nascendant. And they are not very different. The _nomen_, the name, may\nvary much, but the _numen_, the thing, for the most part, does not.\n\nThe science of the nineteenth century has not cleared away from the\nminds of a large majority, in even the most highly civilized nations,\nthe belief that health and sickness are largely subject to mysterious\nspiritual powers. They are matters of which the populace are still apt to\nentertain preposterous notions. Cullen well remarks somewhere that he had\nfound even men with trained logical faculties, such as lawyers, satisfied\nwith reasons of any kind, advanced to explain medical phenomena. And in\ntruth the physician deals with matters not readily understood. In the\nvery first paragraph of his book of books, has not Hippocrates himself\nsaid: \u201cExperience is fallacious and judgment difficult\u201d?\n\nHowever, it is not to be denied that there are many who sincerely and\nfirmly believe that both health and disease are entirely dependent on the\nwill of spiritual powers. Doubtless every physician has seen instances\nof perfect resignation, on the death of even a near relative, brought\nabout by the notion that the bereavement was \u201cthe will of God.\u201d An\ninnocent child, cut off by diphtheria, or scarlet fever, or some other\npestilential disease, which exists only by tolerance, with a tearless\nmother bending over it, calm and full of the idea that it was the will\nof the Almighty to destroy it in the bud, as it were, is not an uncommon\nsight, and one which cannot fail to impress both deeply and sadly the\nintelligent observer. Impious and erroneous doctrine, to be sure; but,\nnevertheless, part and parcel of many, nay, most of the creeds of the\nday.\n\nMy statements are not rashly made and baseless. I might almost ask in\nvain for a creed in which an absolute declaration of the life and death\nof mortals being entirely in the hands of supra-mundane powers is not\nmade. For example, in the chapter of the \u201cBook of Common Prayer,\u201d on\n\u201cthe order for the visitation of the sick,\u201d it is said: \u201cDearly beloved,\nknow this, that Almighty God is the Lord of life and death, and of all\nthings to them pertaining, as youth, strength, health, age, weakness,\nand sickness. Wherefore, whatsoever your sickness be, know you certainly\nthat it is God\u2019s visitation.\u201d For relief, the means is indicated in this\npetition: \u201cO Lord! look down from heaven, behold, visit, and relieve this\nthy servant.\u201d There is no doubt about the meaning of these passages; and\nit is certain that the ideas contained in them are essentially those\nwhich were current among various peoples of remote antiquity. Of course,\nto one who sincerely entertains such ideas there can be no such thing\nas a science and art of medicine. But we know that they rarely or never\nstand in the way of a due resort to rational medical treatment. Truly,\nthe human mind is, in many instances, \u201cmany-sided.\u201d\n\nWhat has just been said will indicate that it is very improbable that\nthe so-called religious literature of early times fairly represents the\nstate of medical practice. Assuredly, one could form no idea of the state\nof the healing art at present from the perusal of a manual of orthodox\nreligious literature.\n\nHowever, as I have intimated above, the prevalence of an ostensible\nbelief in the cause and cure of diseases by supernatural powers does not\nstand in the way of the existence and practice of a more or less rational\nart of healing.\n\nThe Chaldean[404] looked to the gods for the removal of the evils which\nafflicted him; and he had his set earthly ways by which to bring about\nthe result desired. Supplication, sacrifice, and the like were practiced,\nbut material means were not entirely neglected. In the sacred book of the\nParsis it is said: \u201cIf several healers offer themselves together, namely,\none who heals with the knife, one who heals with herbs, and one who heals\nwith the Holy Word, it is this one who will _best_ drive away sickness\nfrom the body of the faithful.\u201d[405] In another place the \u201cHoly Word\u201d is\npronounced \u201cthe best healing of all remedies.\u201d[406] Evidently, one might\nresort to other means, if he chose. And here I may remark, that in the\npractices of \u00c6sculapius there was precisely the same threefold means of\ncure, as will be seen by referring to the chapter on the god.\n\nIt may be affirmed with confidence that no people in either ancient or\nmodern times has relied exclusively on the good offices of supernatural\npowers for the cure of diseases. According to Catlin, the Indian doctors\nfirst prescribed \u201croots and herbs, of which they have a great variety\nof species; and when these have all failed, their last resort is to\nmedicine.\u201d[407] A reverse plan was the more common. In that interesting\nbook, \u201cEcclesiasticus,\u201d written by one well informed, and even at a time\nwhen medicine was far advanced, the sick man is curiously advised to pray\nand sacrifice to God first, and then to give place to the physician.[408]\nThe old Hebrew conveys the idea that, when nothing else could be done,\nresort should be had to medical men. He thoughtfully remarks that \u201cthere\nis a time when thou must fall into their hands.\u201d[409]\n\nNow, as was to be expected, the Grecian god of medicine was viewed by\nsome through a veil of superstition brought from the East. In connection\nwith statues of him were things the meaning of which would be entirely\nunintelligible without a previous knowledge of ideas entertained in\nAssyria and other countries. One of these, the special theme of this\nchapter, is very interesting because of its historical connections. A\nstudy of it brings to light much exceedingly interesting information.\n\nThe pine- or cedar-cone, or, as some have spoken of it, the pine-apple,\nwas figured in the hand of the cryselephantine statue of \u00c6sculapius, made\nby Calamis for the temple at Sicyon, in Arcadia, as in representations\nof Mardux. What was the meaning of this peculiar object? Some have taken\nit to have been a phallic symbol. The presence of it on the thyrsus of\nDionysus,[410] brought by him from the East, would seem to support that\nview. It has also been regarded as a flame.[411]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 15.\u2014THE PINE- OR CEDAR-CONE AS SEEN IN THE HAND OF A\nWINGED FIGURE FROM NIMROUD.]\n\nWhether the cedar-cone of the Sicyonian statue of \u00c6sculapius was\nrepresentative of the reproductive organ or of fire or not, it is certain\nthat it was largely in use by the Babylonians, Assyrians, and others,\nto restore health as well as to overcome witchcraft and the like. One\nsees it in the hand of the winged, eagle-headed figure from Nimroud,\nnow in the British Museum, and a cut of the same is given here. Two\nsimilar genii or figures, very like the gryphon of Greek mythology\nconnected with Apollo, are represented watching, like the cherubim at\nthe gate of Eden, over the priests who attend about the sacred tree of\nlife,\u2014that apple-, fig-, palm-, or somo-tree, serpent-guarded, which\nyields fruit or ambrosia, in which, as De Gubernatis says, \u201cthe life, the\nfortune, the glory, the strength, and the riches of the hero have their\nbeginning,\u201d[412] and which is so prominent in the sculptures and records\nof Oriental peoples. The object is often seen extended under the king\u2019s\nnose, apparently that he may inhale the vitalizing emanations from it,\nafter the manner of the ancients\u2019 notion of the mode of reception of the\n\u201cbreath of life.\u201d[413] It even appears on the tree of life in some of\nits conventional forms. Thus, Layard says: \u201cThe flowers at the end of\nthe branches are frequently replaced in later Assyrian monuments and on\ncylinders by the fir- or pine-cone, and sometimes by a fruit or ornament\nresembling the pomegranate.\u201d[414]\n\nIn connection with what he has to say about the cones on the tree of\nlife, George Smith expresses the opinion that \u201cthe Accadians brought the\ntradition of the fir-cones with them from their original seat in the\ncolder, mountainous land of Media, where the fir[415] was plentiful.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 16.\u2014THE TREE OF LIFE.]\n\nThe use of the fir-cone in the cure of disease has been made evident\nby recent translations of cuneiform inscriptions.[416] It is said by\nLenormant that in a magic fragment as yet inedited the god Hea, the\n_averruncus par excellence_, the vivifier and preserver of the human\nrace which he has created, prescribes to his son Marduk, the mediator, a\nmysterious rite which will cure a man whose malady is caused by an attack\nof demons. \u201cTake,\u201d says he, \u201cto him the fruit of the cedar, and hold it\nin front of the sick person; the cedar is the tree which gives the pure\ncharm and repels the inimical demons, who lay snares.\u201d[417]\n\nIn the cedar-cone, then, in the hand of the figure of \u00c6sculapius we have\nthe symbol and instrument of \u201cthe life charm,\u201d of which the god Hea was\nthe master and the son the dispenser; and I may add (as Lenormant has\nsuggested) that when fruits of this nature adorn the sacred plant they\ncharacterize it more emphatically than ever as the tree of life.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\nDIBBARA,[418] A GOD OF PESTILENCE.\n\n\nThere does not appear to be an exception to the rule, that every people\nhas, to a greater or less extent, referred the causation of epidemic\nand other diseases to supernatural powers.[419] In Oriental countries\nevil spirits were believed to be accountable for it; and, indeed, in the\nWest, the Red Indians entertained the same notion, as the reader of Mr.\nDorman\u2019s interesting book[420] is well aware. The uncultured mind cannot,\nit would seem, grasp the idea that things which the senses cannot readily\nperceive may, nevertheless, be entirely natural.\n\nThe Babylono-Assyrians, like the American Indians, believed in the\nexistence of innumerable bad as well as good spirits; in fact, to them\nevery object and force in nature was believed to have a _zi_, or spirit,\nmore or less subject to control.[421] The bad ones, of whom there were\nseven emphatically such, delighted in injuring man and afflicting him\nwith diseases, often taking possession of him. Evidently this doctrine,\nwhen fully developed,\u2014that is, when the bad spirits were almost or quite\nas free to act as the good ones, as among the Parsis,\u2014afforded a simple\nand very satisfactory explanation of the existence of apparent good and\nevil in the world. The practice of medicine, based on such views, could,\nat best, be little better than mere Shamanism.\n\nI may here observe that the Chaldeans and others regarded imprecations\nas effective in causing diseases, as well as other evils. In a quotation\nfrom a tablet, given by Lenormant, it is said:\u2014\n\n    \u201cThe malevolent imprecation acts on man like a wicked demon;\n    The voice which curses has power over him.\u201d[422]\n\nI need hardly say that a very similar belief is still all but universal.\nIt appears to be instructive. At any rate, it is practiced enormously.\nFrom the \u201cdamn you\u201d of the street-urchin to the formal and solemn\n\u201canathema\u201d of the Pope of Rome, we are familiar with all grades of it.\n\nThere has always and everywhere been a tendency to accord great\ndivinities power to dispense both evil and good. Men have made their\nchief gods like themselves, anthropomorphic, variable in their feelings\nand actions. Apollo could cause disease and he could remove it.[423]\nOf the Hebrews\u2019 God the same is true. Offense at the \u201csins\u201d of men in\nboth cases inspires the infliction of pestilential and other diseases.\nThe numbering of the people by David, although forbidden, leads to the\noccurrence of a destructive epidemic.[424] In \u201cEcclesiasticus\u201d it is\nexplicitly said, \u201cHe that sinneth in the sight of his Maker shall fall\ninto the hands of the physician.\u201d[425]\n\nAmong those who clothed one evil spirit with imperial power, so to speak,\nthat spirit has been mainly held accountable for the occurrence of\ndisease. The Iranian, Angra-Mainyu, furnishes an example. And since the\nnotion of the \u201cdevil\u201d (our devil) began,[426] he has been often charged\nwith the offense. Thus, we are told in the Bible that it was he that\n\u201csmote Job with sores, from the sole of his foot unto his crown.\u201d[427]\nStill, in this case he was subject to orders, so to speak.\n\nNow, it would be strange if, among the evil spirits the exuberant fancy\nof uncultured man has called into existence, there were not a leading\none with the special function of causing, at least, pestilential\ndiseases. Such a one is not met with in the mythology of the Romans,\nGreeks, or even the Egyptians;[428] but a remarkable one is found in the\nAccadio-Sumerian, Dibbara, the leader of the plague-demons.[429] He was\nsubject to the orders of Ana and Hea. In the Izdhubar legend of the flood\nit is said: \u201cLet Dibbara appear, and let men be mown down.\u201d\n\nOur knowledge of Dibbara, or Lubara, is largely of modern date. Until\nthe recent translations of cuneiform inscriptions were made, the records\nof him had almost faded out of sight. On his exploits there is an\ninteresting chapter in George Smith\u2019s \u201cChaldean Account of Genesis.\u201d[430]\nHis history promises to throw considerable light on passages in the Bible\nand elsewhere. Thus, his title of \u201cthe darkening one\u201d appears to have\nsuggested to the Psalmist the phrase, \u201cThe pestilence that walketh in\ndarkness.\u201d[431] He was, probably, the prototype of the destroying \u201cangel\u201d\nspoken of in the Bible.[432]\n\nDibbara, like many other personifications of evil, partook of the\nserpentine form. Not unlikely he was originally, to a great degree,\nsimilar to, if not identical with, the fabulous dragon combated by\nMarduk. This was an embodiment of the chaos of the deep, the principle of\nchaos and darkness. He was the serpent of the night, and may have been\nprimarily the darkness overcome by the sun.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\nHYGEIA, THE GODDESS OF HEALTH.\n\n\nThe need of a special divinity to preserve people in a state of health\nwas widely felt, even in very early times. In Egypt, Assyria, Greece, and\nelsewhere, this need found pronounced expression. Isis and Istar[433] and\nAthene were each, in one way or another, accorded great power over bodily\nor mental health. But the Greeks, in their Hygeia, markedly emphasized\nand entirely specialized the conception. Here we have an exclusively\nhealth divinity, who had more or less of a counterpart in the SALUS of\nthe Romans,\u2014a goddess highly esteemed, worshipped on set days, and to\nwhom a fine temple was devoted at the Eternal City, situated near the\ngate called from it Porta Salutaris.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 17.\u2014SERPENT AND BOWL OF HYGEIA.[434]]\n\nFrom the preceding statements, the reader will observe that the\ndivinities who were specially interested in the preservation of health\nwere all females. This is an exceedingly interesting fact. It is not an\nincongruous one, either. The ancients were keenly alive to the sense of\nfitness in things; and hence it is hardly likely that they made a mistake\nin Hygeia, the health goddess. From the exercise of the great function of\nnurturing and caring for the young of the species, woman has sufficient\nclaim to the distinction of being, _par excellence_, the guardian of\nhealth. Why the goddess should be a maid rather than a matron is not\nextremely clear. Likely the idea was to present in her a woman just\nmature and free from blemish, in a typically perfect state.\n\nHowever, we have in Hygeia, \u201cdaughter of P\u00e6on, queen of every joy,\u201d\nto use the appropriate words with which Armstrong starts off in the\ninvocation to her, at the beginning of his fine poem,[435] a very\ninteresting and beautiful conception. It is easy to understand why this\ndivinity became very popular. O Goddess! if\u2014\n\n                          \u201cBut for thee,\n    Nature would sicken, nature soon would die,\u201d\n\nas the author just quoted declares, thy worship might well have become\nuniversal, for without health life is burdensome, a gift of doubtful\nvalue! Health and long life are things mortals have always craved and\nalways prized. In that interesting Hebr\u00e6o-Chaldean history, \u201cTobias,\u201d\nSara, with her husband, gives utterance to a truly human prayer: \u201cHave\nmercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us, and let us grow old both together\nin health.\u201d[436] \u201cAt heart,\u201d says Dr. Brinton, \u201call prayers are for\npreservation; the burden of all litanies is a begging for life.\u201d[437]\n\nThe symbolic representation of the myth of Hygeia afforded a fine subject\nfor the sculptors and other artists. Extremely attractive figures of\nher were produced. One of them, at least, is doubtless familiar to the\nreader. I have reference to the one in which she is represented as a\nblooming girl with a serpent twined around her left arm[438] and feeding\nout of a _patera_ or chalice held in her right hand. With this ideal\nin his mind, the late Dr. Aitken Meigs, in a remarkable address[439]\ndelivered in 1879, pronounces \u201cthe high-born maid\u201d to be \u201cof beauty\u2019s\ntypes, the highest, best idea,\u201d and continues:\u2014\n\n    \u201cNor fragile she, nor pale, but ruddy, strong,\n    And gladsome as a tuneful, joyous song;\n    Her comely form, in swelling curves designed,\n    Is perfect grace, with glowing strength combined;\n    Crimson and white in her fair face contend,\n    Upon her cheeks in sweet confusion blend;\n    Her rosy lips excel the coral\u2019s brightness,\n    Brow, nose, and chin are fleecy ways of whiteness;\n    Loose, flowing, falls her hair, a golden spray;\n    Forth from her lustrous eyes she scatters day.\n    ...\n    In one small hand a cup she deftly holds,\n    Whilst round her soft, white arm, in many folds\n    A serpent twines and from the chalice drinks.\n    Low crouches sometimes, at her feet, a sphinx.\n    From these strange emblems learn her character:\n    How very cunning she, and how exact her\n    Knowledge and profound; how with wondrous skill\n    Her youth renews, and is discreet and still.\u201d\n\nAs will be observed, Dr. Meigs gives an explanation of the symbols\nusually connected with figures of Hygeia, whom he regarded as to the\nphysician what the chosen maid was to the knight of old,\u2014the patron\nsaint. The view taken of the serpent is not satisfactory, although better\nthan that held by Cuvier, namely, that it is \u201cto show that temperance\nis the source of lengthened life.\u201d[440] And if one take the reptile to\nbe symbolic of the art of healing, why it should be connected with the\ngoddess of health is not clear. In this connection its presence might\nimply that it is only through medicine that health can be preserved.\nTaking it as symbolic of life, one has little difficulty in understanding\nits appropriateness. Closely attached to her, and drawing nourishment\nfrom a chalice held in her hand, the meaning might be, that health and\nlife are intimately related to each other, the former sustaining the\nlatter. Regarding it, however, as simply a _bonus genius_ is not out\nof the way. The mode of representing it at Rome and elsewhere strongly\nsupports this view, namely, encircling the altar of the goddess, with the\nhead extending over it.[441] In Teutonic mythology, \u201cthe white lady with\nthe snake\u201d was associated with medicinal springs.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 18.\u2014HYGEIA. (As given in Murray\u2019s Mythology.)]\n\nAccording to the mythological record, Hygeia[442] was the daughter of the\ngod of medicine, \u00c6sculapius. Of her personal history one might almost\nsay that it is a blank.\n\nNumerous representations of Hygeia were to be found in Greece, and later\nin Rome. One was usually placed by the side of each of \u00c6sculapius.\n\nThe worship of Hygeia began soon after that of \u00c6sculapius and became\nwide-spread and popular. The Romans were quite as devoted in their\nattentions to her as the Greeks.\n\nI have said sufficient already to indicate that there was no divinity\nprecisely similar to Hygeia in Egypt, or any eastern country. Some of the\ngreat goddesses were believed to exercise functions akin to hers.[443]\nIndeed, many of the prominent divinities, from the spouse of Hea down,\nhad accorded to them more or less control over affairs of health and\nlife. Dr. Meigs conveys a wrong impression when he says:\u2014\n\n    \u201cHygeia, daughter of Asclepios,\n    Descended from Apollo Delios,\n    Adored as Maut[444] beside the mystic Nile,\n    With Amen-Ra in Theban peristyle.\u201d[445]\n\nThere is about as much reason to say that Athene was Hygeia, as that Maut\nwas, or Isis, although, as Ebers says, she was the divinity \u201cto be called\non to destroy the germs of disease.\u201d[446] Arguments could be advanced in\nfavor of the idea that Hygeia sprang into existence as a personification\nof the great serpent-accompanied virgin, river-mist, or cloud-goddess,\nPallas Athene, in her capacity of health-preserver. The claim in regard\nto Isis is little or no better; and, in fact, one form of Isis, called\nNeith, or Neit, the great mother of the sun-god, Ra, and the titular\ngoddess of Sais, has always[447] been believed to correspond closely with\nAthene. The former was not only usually accompanied by a serpent, like\nthe latter, but was often represented by one; still, the same might be\nsaid of, perhaps, all the Egyptian goddesses.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\nMEDICAL TALISMANS.\n\n\nIt is well at the start to form a definite conception of what a\ntalisman means. It is a species of charm; it differs from an amulet.\nBoth are of the character of fetiches; that is, objects in nature, or\nof art, believed to possess magical power. If the object be ascribed\nconsciousness and other mental attributes, it is, properly speaking, an\nidol. Unlike the amulet, the talisman, to be effective, need not be kept\nabout the person. But the main characteristic feature of the talisman is\nastronomical, or, rather, astrological; it is accorded virtue principally\nbecause made when two planets are in conjunction, or when a star has\nreached its culminating point. As one would expect, it has been customary\nto have something about the talisman to indicate that it is such; but\nmany engravings found on them have no astronomical import at all.\n\nThe talisman[448] has a long history. To know when it came into use\none must go back to the time when the study of the stars and their\ninfluence, real or supposed, on mundane affairs began. Although it has\nbeen asserted[449] that Adam acquired a knowledge of astrology through\ninspiration, it is safe to hold that the Accadian[450] star-gazers,\ninhabitants of the hills of Elam, first gave shape to this, in great\npart, pseudo-philosophy of nature, which was widely believed in by many\npeoples, and still has numerous sincere adherents everywhere. Mr. Proctor\nventures to declare that \u201cthe idea that the stars in their course rule\nthe fate of men and nations\u201d[451] is a predominant one of the race.[452]\nIn Babylonia, Assyria, Ph\u0153nicia, Egypt, and elsewhere, it received much\nattention; indeed, it was part and parcel of the prevailing religions,\nmost of the Oriental systems being largely astronomical in origin. And\nthe Chaldean or, rather, Accadian astrologer\u2019s work is obvious enough to\nthis day;[453] it is seen in the division of time into the week of seven\ndays, with the seventh one of rest, the Sabbath,[454] and the mode of\nregulation of religious times and seasons,[455] to say nothing of the\nsigns of the zodiac, and so on.\n\nIt is stated by Vitruvius[456] that astrology[457] was brought from the\nEast to Greece[458] by the Chaldeans, of whom Berosus, the historian,\n\u201cthe first of them,\u201d settled at Cos and opened a school there. However\nthis may be, it is stated in Ptolemy\u2019s remarkable book[459] that medical\nastrology originated in Egypt.\n\nHippocrates, who lived a century or so before Berosus, had certainly a\nknowledge of astrology. Galen wrote a book on it, and, like Hippocrates,\ngives special prominence to the influence of the moon, dwelling\nparticularly on its production of critical changes in diseases. Many\nanother physician thought it necessary to master it,[460] including\nChaucer\u2019s \u201cDoctor of Physick,\u201d who was \u201cgrounded in astronomie.\u201d[461]\n\nFrom the fact that astrology and religion were closely connected, it\nalmost necessarily followed that medical talismans possessed more or less\nof a religious significance.\n\nAmong the talismanic gems pictured in De Wilde\u2019s book[462] is one\nwhich has on one side the Greek letters \u0399\u0391\u03a9, signifying the Creator\nof the world, or Jehovah; and on the other a representation of an\nextremely _erotic_ and rather misshapen lion rampant. This, worn in a\nring, was said to prevent renal and other diseases. De Wilde observes,\nin accordance with a belief of ancient date, that in this figure one\nhas health symbolized. Says he: \u201c_Leo erectus verum signum sanitatis\nprotendit._\u201d\n\nWhat has just been said leads me to remark that the phallus, which was a\ncommon form of the _genius loci_, or Agathod\u00e6mon, was widely believed\nto have great power to protect against harm. In it was a sovereign\npreventive of malign fascination, or the influence of the evil eye. The\nRoman god, Fascinus,[463] had it as his chief symbol. It is well known\nthat this charm was sometimes placed on houses[464] in Pompeii, with the\ninscription, _hic habitat felicitas_. Aubrey says: \u201cIn the digging of the\nruins and foundations of London, after the great conflagration, there\nwere found several little Priapusses of copper, about an inch long, w\u1d9c\u02b0\nthe Romans did weare about their necks.\u201d[465]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 19.\u2014THE DIVINE NAME. (As seen on a talismanic gem,\ncopied from De Wilde\u2019s book.)]\n\nIn regard to the \u0399\u0391\u03a9, J\u0391\u03a9, or JAO, a variation of JAH,[466] the name\nof the Deity, the demiurge, the Sabaoth of the Ph\u0153nicians and others,\nI may say that it was regarded as possessing in itself irresistible\ntalismanic power. Fort remarks that \u201cas a talisman of medical properties\nit was carried about the person in tubes, or, more generally, on\nparchment.\u201d[467] Let me add that the Tetragrammaton\u2014that is, J H V H,\nor, as it is commonly rendered, Jehovah\u2014was the same thing as the \u0399\u0391\u03a9.\nMuch could be said about it, as those familiar with Masonic legends and\noccult literature are aware. Lenormant states, of the wide belief in the\npower of the hidden \u201cname of the Lord,\u201d that \u201cwe now see clearly that it\ncame from Chaldea.\u201d[468] Elsewhere, reference is made to the potent word\nwhich Hea bore in his heart.\n\nIn this connection I may say a word on the \u201ctriliteral monosyllable\u201d of\nthe Brahmin and Buddhist, AUM, to which still, as in the past, great\npotency is attached. Being a symbol of the Supreme, it is characterized\nas \u201cthat which passes not away.\u201d Dr. Birdwood remarks that it is \u201cthe\nidentical formula of every Hindu god. The letter A is the _vija-mantra_\nof the male Buddha, the generative power; U, the ditto of the female\n_dharma_ (law), the type of productive power; and M, the _sanga_\n(congregation) or union of the essences of both.\u201d[469]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 20.\u2014FORMS OF THE PRESCRIPTION SYMBOL.]\n\nThe symbol placed at the head of medical prescriptions, and which is\nusually believed to stand for _recipe_, may be regarded as a sort of\nobsolete talisman. The original form of it appears to have been a figure\nlike a Z, with the lower horizontal part crossed with a sceptre-shaped\nline. This, or a modification of it, has been from time immemorial the\nsymbol of the planet Jupiter. Hence the reason, it has been asserted,\nfor placing it at the head of prescriptions; for the great planet, the\nbearer of the name of the father of life, was believed in other days to\nhave a favorable influence over diseases. And here I may observe that in\nanother chapter I have spoken of the interesting fact that Marduk[470]\nof the Babylono-Assyrians stood for Jupiter, and that in him was\nassimilated the benignant mediator and healer of the Accadio-Sumerians,\nSilik-mulu-khi.\n\nThe symbol is generally described as being simply the initial letter\nof Zeus, the Greek name of Jupiter. But this leaves part of it out of\naccount, a part which might be taken to be a sceptre, an object which,\naccompanied by a serpent, as the symbol of life, was prominent in\nrepresentations of Jupiter. But one might with some reason regard it as\nmade up of the initial and terminal letters of Zadykiel, or Zadakiel,\nthe angel and the spirit of the great planet, according to astrologers\nand others. And again, by taking it to be composed of an R and an l, one\nmight hold it to be derived from the name of Raphael, the angel of the\nsun. But, as already stated, it is probable that the body of the original\nfigure was not an R. I may add that Mr. Taylor says that this ideogram\n\u201cresolves itself into an arm grasping a thunderbolt.\u201d\n\nIf the prescription-mark be a thing of astrological origin, it is a\nremnant of an extensive body of facts and theories, long highly prized.\nShakspere makes _King Lear_, in an interesting passage, characterize\nthe reference of man\u2019s destiny \u201cto the sun, the moon, and the stars,\u201d\nas \u201cthe excellent foppery of the world;\u201d[471] but no doubt innumerable\nhosts of believers in the system were thoroughly sincere. From the days\nwhen the Accadians became distinguished for their observations of the\nheavens, down to very recent times, medical astrology occupied a position\nin popular thought and esteem which almost exceeds the power of credence\nof the modern scientific physician. Not only in administering medicines,\nbut in gathering medicinal herbs, the position of the planets had to be\nconsidered; for it was believed that the herbs got their virtues from\nthem. Without the benign influence of the \u201chost of heaven,\u201d no good could\nbe expected from the physician, or his remedies.\n\nThe belief in the power of the different constellations of the zodiac\nover special parts of the body and their diseases is still indicated by\nthe curious figure often seen in almanacs.\n\nABRAXAS-STONES are largely medical in character\u2014medical talismans.[472]\nMuch might be said of them. Fort remarks: \u201cThese gems, endowed with\nomnipotent curative and talismanic power, quickly acquired a celebrity\nundiminished for ages, and whose possible interpretation even yet\nattracts erudite attention.\u201d[473]\n\nEach of these remarkable objects consisted of a piece of glass, paste,\nor other mineral substance, occasionally a metallic one, on which was\nusually some figure, often a serpent, or inscription, together with the\nword \u201cabraxas,\u201d which constituted their distinctive feature.\n\nThe Greek letters of the mystical word, \u201cabraxas,\u201d equaled in numerical\nvalue 365,[474] the number of days in the year. After speaking of the\nserpent of evil on one, Sharpe says: \u201cUnderneath it is written the\nmagical word Abrasa, _hurt me not_, an Egyptian word, which the Greeks\nmade use of, as believing that the evil spirits were better acquainted\nwith the Egyptian language than with the Greek.\u201d[475] Not a few, however,\nbelieve that the word is not such at all.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 21.\u2014ABRAXAS-STONE. (From De Wilde.)]\n\nThe abraxas-stones are believed to have originated with the Basilidian\nGnostics, a sect which Basilides, a Syrian by birth, who lived under\nTrajan and his successor, in the latter half of the first century, was\ninstrumental in originating. Whether they were intended at first to be\nsimply a means of recognition is an undecided question. Those given to\nmagic adopted them largely. The opinion has been expressed that doubtless\nthe greater part of the stones were made in the middle ages.[476]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\n\nMEDICAL AMULETS.\n\n\nAny object believed to be possessed of a mysterious power of warding off\nor removing evil of any kind may be regarded as an amulet. A medical\namulet is one capable of warding off or of removing a disease or\ndiseases. The prevention of disease, or, what is much the same thing, the\npreservation of health, is the use to which it has been chiefly put. This\nis quite as true of its use to-day as formerly.\n\nIn speaking of medical amulets one has no reason to use only the past\ntense. They are still much used, as the reader of Brande, or of the\npublications of the Folk-Lore Society, or of _Notes and Queries_, well\nknows. Nor are the patrons of them of the illiterate class only. Every\nphysician has, doubtless, met with instances of their use by persons of\nintelligence. Here is a clergyman who carries a chestnut in his pocket to\nkeep off rheumatism; and there is an attorney-at-law who keeps a stolen\npotato about him for the same purpose. In ancient times, however, their\nuse was extremely common, all but universal.\n\nOf the practical value of amulets I may say, without hesitancy, that it\nis very great. Of course it would be irrational to hold that they act, to\nany extent, otherwise than through impressions made by them on the mind.\nSuch impressions may undoubtedly be powerful for good. That this is the\ncase few competent to form an opinion on the subject will question. The\nintelligent reader of history, as well as the scientific psychologist\nand physician, has abundant reason to know that it is true. I repeat what\nI have deliberately said elsewhere: \u201cAmulets do serve, in a measure, to\nprevent disease. Anything which inspires confidence and hope is sanative\nin its effects. Faith is a powerful healer.\u201d[477]\n\nA gem with a symbol of one kind or another engraved on it was, from an\nearly period, an ordinary medical amulet. A common symbol was a figure of\nHygeia; and one of Serapis was long quite as common. The name of Raphael\n(literally healer of God), the patron angel of the early Christians, was\noften shown on both amulets and talismans. This angel had a reputation\nas a healer,[478] as the reader familiar with \u201cTobias\u201d is aware. In that\nhistorical book, it is said that when Tobias and Sara were afflicted \u201cthe\nholy angel of the Lord, Raphael, was sent to heal them both.\u201d[479] Tobias\nwas told by him that if he put a little piece of a fish\u2019s heart upon\ncoals the smoke thereof would drive away all kinds of devils, either from\nman or woman, and that they would not return.[480]\n\nA serpent was a very familiar object on gems used as amulets. The later\nEgyptians, who were great believers in such things, were very partial\nto it. Among the objects found by General Di Cesnola, in Cypress, was\na scarab\u00e6oid of banded agate, on which are engraved two asps with a\ncartouche between, inscribed with the word \u03b5\u03c7\u03b9\u03c2. In reference to this\nword he says: \u201cIt can be no other than \u03ad\u03c7\u03b9\u03c2, the old form of \u03b5\u03c7\u03b9\u03b4\u03bd\u03b1, and\nmay possibly be a proper name after the analogy of Draco, not uncommon\nin Greece; and Echidna, whose amour with Hercules Herodotus relates. Or,\nif taken in its primary sense the word may constitute an amulet against\nthe asps, still so plentiful in Cyprus, and to be of the nature of those\nprophylactic rings against snake-bites alluded to by Aristophanes.[481]\nArab amulets, at the present day, bear the figure of the thing against\nwhich they exert their virtue, and all Oriental practices in this line\ncome down from immemorial antiquity.\u201d[482]\n\nI may remark that the use of images of things feared to save from them\nhas, indeed, been extensively practiced. The cause and the effect, in\nmany afflictions, might be so used. The golden emerods and mice, spoken\nof in the Bible, are instances.[483] The same idea may have had something\nto do with the use of the brazen serpent of Moses. The Chaldeans, in\nresorting to this peculiar plan of dealing with their evil spirits,\nrepresented them, says Lenormant, \u201cunder such hideous forms that they\nbelieved that it was sufficient for them to be shown their own image to\ncause them to flee away alarmed.\u201d[484] And this leads me to say that\ngreat medical virtues have been held to spring from things repulsive.\nThus, water drank from the skull of a suicide has received credit for the\ncure of many a case of epilepsy. Tasting the blood of a murderer has been\nresorted to successfully in cases of the same disease.\n\nA word in this connection about ADDER-STONES may not be amiss. These\nobjects have long been regarded by many as charms or amulets of great\npower. They are simply the whorls or rude fly-wheels put on spindles\nof spinning-wheels. Dr. A. Mitchell discusses them at length in his\ninteresting arch\u00e6ological work.[485]\n\nUnder the head of medical amulets are to be classed many things, such\nas BLESSED OBJECTS and RELICS of various kinds. The extent to which\nthese were used, century after century, down even to our own day, is\nsurprising. The interested reader may advantageously turn to Fort\u2019s\nlearned work.[486] The sprinkling of \u201choly water\u201d[487] over patients by\npious Catholics is familiar to every physician. I have seen a few drops\nof water from Lourdes given by a priest to his mother, sinking from\nlung disease. A few weeks ago I saw a cup of water in which a little\nearth from Knock, in the south of Ireland, was mixed, given with great\nconfidence in its power for good, in a case of difficult labor. In the\n\u201cZend Avesta\u201d wonderful virtue is ascribed to _gomez_;[488] and the same\nthing is equally lauded in the sacred books of the Hindus. What strange\nbeliefs mortals may have!\n\nCertain NUMERALS have had remarkable properties accorded them by\nphilosophical and other speculators. SEVEN has occupied a prominent\nposition. The primitive Chaldeans, in their study of the heavens, became\nacquainted with seven planets, including the sun and moon, and their week\nconsisted of seven days. With the Egyptians and others the same was the\ncase. Pythagoras saw in this number the three of the triangle and the\nfour of the square,\u2014the two perfect figures. It was considered sacred\nto Helios and also Apollo. The Hebrew _sheba_ means seven, and was the\nsymbol of a deity[489] before it came to signify an oath. As a charm or\namulet, the number was believed to be possessed of great potency. Health\nwas assured by carrying it about the person on a gem or the like. Ebers\nillustrates this superstition in one of his splendid historical novels;\nhe makes Boges, in giving a ring to Cr\u0153sus, speak thus:\u2014\n\n\u201cTake this ring. It has never left my finger since I quitted Egypt,\nand it has a significance far beyond its outward worth. Pythagoras,\nthe noblest of the Greeks, gave it to my mother when he was tarrying\nin Egypt to learn the wisdom of our priests, and it was her parting\ngift to me. The number seven is engraved upon the simple stone. This\nindivisible number represents perfect health, both to soul and body,\nfor health is likewise one and indivisible. The sickness of one member\nis the sickness of all; one evil thought allowed to take up its abode\nwithin our heart destroys the entire harmony of the soul. When you see\nthis seven, therefore, let it recall my heart\u2019s wish that you may ever\nenjoy undisturbed bodily health and long retain that loving gentleness\nwhich has made you the most virtuous and, therefore, the healthiest of\nmen.\u201d[490]\n\nAs already intimated, the Chaldeans attributed special virtues to\ncertain numbers, of which seven would seem to have been the most highly\nesteemed. Unfortunately, none of their numerical formul\u00e6 have as yet\nbeen discovered. The \u201cmamit\u201d or \u201cnumber\u201d has been referred to before.\nLenormant remarks: \u201cMore powerful than the incantations were conjurations\nwrought by the power of numbers. In this way the supreme secret which\nHea taught to his son, Silik-mulu-khi, when he consulted him in his\ndistress, was always called \u2018the number.\u2019\u201d[491]\n\nA remnant of the old belief in the relation of seven to health is the\nwide-spread superstitious notion that the seventh son of the seventh son\nis possessed of special healing powers. Curiously enough, I had a visit\nfrom such a person, just before writing this; and he as firmly believes\nthat he can cure \u201cthe evil\u201d and other ills with certainty as any king\nthat ever exercised the royal gift.\n\nThe color RED has long served the purpose of an amulet. To this day a red\nstring is occasionally seen around the necks of children to protect them\nagainst scarlet fever and other pestilential diseases; and the belief\nin the special virtue of red flannel is almost universal. Says Aubrey:\n\u201cJohannes Medicus, who lived and wrote in the time of Edward II, and was\nPhysition to that king, gives an account of his curing the prince of ye\nsmall-pox, a disease but then lately known in England, by ordering his\nbed, his room, and his attendants to be all in scarlet, and imputes ye\ncure in great measure to the virtue of ye colour.\u201d[492] The same was done\nin the case of the Emperor Francis I, in 1765.\n\nOf red it is certainly true that it is a warm color; and the impression\nof it on the mind is stimulating. Experiments have shown that different\ncolors exert various influences over living forms, including man.\n\nBut, although medical virtues have been ascribed to red, it has been\nlooked on as anything but good. Says Ebers: \u201cIn the \u2018Papyrus-Ebers\u2019 all\ninjurious and evil things are called red.\u201d[493] The scorching sands of\nthe desert, likely, gave the Egyptian his dislike to the color. In the\nHindu book of the law,[494] a man is forbidden to marry a girl with\nreddish hair, but why is not stated. Satan is usually given a suit of\nfiery hue.\n\nThe ANKH was a symbol of the Egyptians signifying life. It received the\nLatin name of _crux ansata_, or handled cross, from its shape. Sometimes\nit is spoken of as the key of life. Each of the great divinities carries\none. \u201cWe do not know,\u201d says Kenrick, \u201cthe reason why life was represented\nby the _crux ansata_.\u201d[495] It seems, however, that the object was at\nfirst simply a crossed pole, used to measure the degree of rise in the\nwaters of the Nile during the period of flood, an annual occurrence of\nvital importance to the inhabitants of the historic region. From this\noriginated, according to Pluche and others, the meaning of life attached\nto it. In the hand of Thoth, a serpent was sometimes twined around it.\nFrom it has sprung, according to Gerald Massey, many modern symbols and\nwords. \u201cIt is extant,\u201d says he, \u201cin the great seals of England, in a\nreversed position, as the token of power and authority;\u201d[496] and he\nventures to affirm that \u201cto be anxious is to be very much alive.\u201d[497]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 22.\u2014ANKH, OR CRUX ANSATA.]\n\nRegarded as a TAU or T[498] with a link attached, it was often\ninterpreted as Typhon chained. As such it was customary to suspend it\nas an amulet from the necks of children and sick people; and it was\nconnected with the wrappings of mummies. M. Pluche, who has gone at\nlength into this interesting subject, says: \u201cThis custom of bridling the\npowers of the enemy, and of hanging a captive Typhon about the necks of\nchildren, of sick persons, and of the dead, appeared so beneficial and\nso important that it was adopted by other nations. The children and the\nsick most commonly wore a ticket, whereon was a T, which they looked\nupon as a powerful preventive. In process of time, other characters were\nsubstituted in the room of the letter T, which was at first engraved\non this ticket, but of which the other nations understood neither the\nmeaning nor intention. They often put a serpent on it, an Harpocrates, or\nthe object of the devotions in vogue; nay, sometimes ridiculous figures,\nor even some that were of the utmost indecency. But the name of _amulet_\nthat was given to the ticket, and which signifies the removal of evil,\nmost naturally represents the intention of the Egyptians, from whom this\npractice came.\u201d[499]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 23.\u2014HEALTH, IN HIEROGLYPHICS.]\n\nA SCEPTRE (Tem), which, alone, may signify strong, in connection with the\nankh stands for strong life, or health. This combination is seen on one\nof the faces of the obelisk now in London.\n\nTOUCH-PIECES, or golden eagles, were special coins first issued by King\nHenry VII to persons \u201ctouched for the evil.\u201d One side of the piece bore\nan angel standing on a dragon, with the inscription, _Soli Deo gloria_,\nand the other a ship in full sail. Some had other designs. A hand\nextending from above was often given,\u2014an old symbol of healing, being\nin use in Egypt, and generally having in connection with it a serpent,\nor a figure of Serapis.[500] The hand of the Lord so frequently spoken\nof in the Bible may have suggested it. Specimens of those issued by\nCharles II and James II are to be seen in the collection of coins now\nin the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art, Memorial Hall,\nFairmount Park, Philadelphia. There are cuts of several in Pettigrew\u2019s\nwork.[501]\n\nThe touch-pieces were carefully preserved and used as amulets.\n\nThe practice of touching for the evil by English sovereigns, from\nEdward the Conqueror down to Queen Anne, did not originate with them.\nTacitus[502] gives an interesting account of the cure of a case of\nblindness and of one of paralysis, in the same way, by Vespasian. Every\nBible-reader knows that it was resorted to in Palestine. But it was in\nvogue in Greece three centuries before our era. In his \u201cLife of Pyrrhus,\u201d\nPlutarch says: \u201cIt was believed that he cured the swelling of the spleen\nby sacrificing a white cock, and with his right foot gently pressing the\npart affected, the patients lying upon their backs for the purpose. There\nwas no person, however poor or mean, to whom this relief, if requested,\nwas refused. He received no reward except the cock for sacrifice, and\nthis present was very agreeable to him.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 24.\u2014A MEDICINE-BAG.]\n\nThe MEDICINE-BAG of the North American Indians has been almost\nuniversally regarded by that race as of wonderful virtue in warding off\nharmful influences of all kinds. It has served them as a preventive, and\nalso, like Prince Ahmed\u2019s apple, as a cure for every disease. Catlin says\nhe found that \u201cevery [male] Indian, in his primitive state, carries his\nmedicine-bag in some form or other, to which he pays the greatest homage\nand to which he looks for safety and protection through life.\u201d[503]\nThe same writer, who, I may remark, had a very wide acquaintance\namong Indians, pronounces it to be \u201cthe key to Indian life and Indian\ncharacter.\u201d[504]\n\nThe contents of this mysterious bag, this \u201cbag of wonders,\u201d are preserved\na secret, one which none wishes to discover. These consist of a medicinal\nherb, or the like, with some packing-material, such as dried grass or\nmoss.\n\nThe medicine-bag is formed from the skin of a human being or some\nreptile, bird, or other creature. The suggestion of the substance to be\nused was left to a dream, inspired by the \u201cgreat spirit,\u201d and experienced\nduring the fast indulged in about puberty, the time when the Indian\n\u201cmakes his medicine;\u201d that is, learns what animal is to be his guardian,\nas it were. Various ornaments are attached to it.\n\nThe medicine-bag is attached to the belt or carried in the hand. No other\npossession could be compared with it in value, and money could not buy\none. It is buried with its owner.\n\nAs already hinted, the medicine-bag is not considered of medical import\nonly; it is believed to have a power over all injurious influences. By\n\u201cmedicine\u201d the Indian has reference to everything he cannot understand.\nCatlin and others are doubtless right in their opinion that it came from\nthe French word for doctor, _m\u00e9decin_. It is the _manito_ or _manitou_\nof the Algonkin, the _oki_ of the Iroquois, and the _teotl_ of the Aztec.\nAnd, curious to observe, these words also mean serpent.\n\nI may also explain here that the \u201cmedicine-man\u201d is not alone the\nphysician; he deals with the mysterious generally. There were three\nkinds: the Jossakeeds, or seers or prophets; the Medas, or medical\npractitioners; and the Wabenos, a class that indulged in night orgies.\n\nIn Miss Emerson\u2019s book it is said that \u201cthe dress of the Medas of the\ncelebrated Mandan Indians, whose tribe is now extinct, was a medley of\nthe animal and vegetable kingdom. All anomalies in nature were used as\nof great medical effect in the construction of this professional guard.\nThe skin of the yellow bear usually formed the most important feature of\nthe dress, and to this was sometimes attached the skins of snakes and\nthe hoofs of deer, goats, and antelopes.\u201d[505] The appearance of such a\n\u201cdoctor\u201d was surely sufficient to frighten away most of the evil spirits\nwhich were the source of human ills.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII.\n\nPHARMACISTS\u2019 SYMBOLS.\n\n\nThe art of the pharmacist is old; it is assuredly of prehistoric origin.\nThe reader of Dioscorides or of Pliny is astonished at the number of\nherbs and other things used as medicines and the complexness of many\npopular prescriptions. Referring to the pharmacist, it is curiously\nobserved, in \u201cEcclesiasticus,\u201d that \u201cof his works there shall be no\nend.\u201d[506] In other days than ours there was evidently a morbid taste for\nthe multiplication of remedies of doubtful worth,\u2014a deplorable infirmity\nof many physicians.\n\nIt is stated by Ebers, in his \u201cEgyptian Princess,\u201d that each of the\nEgyptian temples had its laboratory and apothecary. There is a list of\ntwo hundred drugs which were kept in the temple of Edfu. But just when\nthe preparation and sale of medicines became a special business cannot\nbe stated. In early times it was customary for the physician to compound\nhis own prescriptions, as is done in rural places yet. Mr. Fort remarks\nthat \u201ctoward the conclusion of the third century the first indications\npresent themselves of the existence of a class of [Roman] citizens to\nwhose vigilant care was confided the preparation of medicaments ordered\nby attendant physicians.\u201d[507] The same writer says: \u201cThe storage of\nmedicinal supplies seems to have approximated the pharmacy in the twelfth\ncentury, although even earlier the word _apothecary_ appears to have\nbeen interchangeable with the booth where assorted wares were offered at\npublic sale.\u201d[508] At the end of the twelfth century the Bishop of London\nwas named _apothecarius_, or pharmacist, to King Henry,\u2014a fact which\nproves that the art of Bolus was then, at least, highly esteemed.\n\nNow, although the establishment of the pharmacist has mysteries in\nabundance connected with it, the special symbols pertaining to the\nbusiness are but few. The chief and most characteristic one is the MORTAR\nAND PESTLE. In Larwood and Hotten\u2019s interesting book it is said: \u201cOne\nof the signs originally used exclusively by apothecaries was the mortar\nand pestle, their well-known implements for pounding drugs.\u201d[509] In an\nattractive form and generally gilded, it is to be seen at nearly all\npharmacies in this country. Only occasionally is it pictured. I know an\ninstance in Philadelphia where Cupid is represented in connection with\nit; but this is as absurd an addition as the negro youth who is using the\npestle in another. An eagle\u2014the national bird\u2014is sometimes represented\nhovering over it. The pestle used for grinding corn was deified by the\nRomans under the name of Pilumnus. In connection with the mortar it is\nhighly spoken of in the sacred books of the Hindus.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 25.\u2014MORTAR AND PESTLE.]\n\nThe skull and cross-bones has come to be of pharmaceutical significance.\nPlaced on the label of a vial, it implies that the contents are\npoisonous, and should be used with intelligence and care. It has been\nin use from an early date as an emblem of death. Formerly, it was often\nplaced on tombstones.\n\nBOTTLES or VASES, colored or containing colored liquids, are of\npharmaceutic import. The question of the origin of their use as signs is\noften asked. It cannot be definitely answered. But, as to how the custom\noriginated one may confidently say that it arose from the common-sense\ndesire of the dealer in medicinal wares to make the fact obvious to the\npasser-by. The confectioner does essentially the same thing, and so,\nindeed, do the grocer and many others.\n\nBy turning to Larwood and Hotten\u2019s book it will be seen that a golden\nbottle has been used as a banker\u2019s and a goldsmith\u2019s sign; also, that\nbottles of various kinds have in other days, as now, decorated many a\ntavern-front.\n\nHence, a bottle or vase can hardly be regarded as a symbol, and much less\nthe exclusive symbol of a dealer in medicines. If it were similar in\nevery instance, and had something special in its form or color, or both,\nit might be so regarded.\n\nAs it is, one cannot very well regard it in any other light than as a\npart of the dealer\u2019s ordinary stock. Still, it must be said that there\nis something decidedly distinct and special about it, as seen in the\npharmacist\u2019s window.\n\nIn this country, at least, the shape of the vase or vases (for there are\ngenerally three or four) and their color are not subject to any rule;\nand, in fact, there are a few stores in Philadelphia in which there are\nnone. The favorite colors seem to be light green, claret, light blue, and\namber.\n\nIt is very probable that the presence of special colored liquids in\nshow-bottles does not date back much farther than, if as far as,\n1617,\u2014the time when the apothecaries became a distinct class from\ngrocers, in England. Certainly, some of the beautiful shades of color\nare very modern.\n\nExhibiting bottles containing actual medicines is doubtless a much more\nancient practice than that of exhibiting them for the sake of their own\nshowiness or that of the solutions placed therein. That has, in all\nprobability, been customary from the time when dealing in drugs began.\nWhen was that?\n\nIt is known that the art of the pharmacist and trading in drugs were\npracticed at an early period in Egypt. Thus, in the \u201cPapyrus-Ebers,\u201d\nwhich was written 1600 years before our era, we learn that for most\ndiseases remedies were prescribed, drawn from all three kingdoms of\nnature, and in some instances were brought from distant lands. The\nprescriptions, I may add, were compounded according to exact weights and\nmeasures. Two recipes for pills are given: one with honey for women, and\none without it for men. One for the preparation of a hair-dye, ascribed\nto the mother-in-law[510] of the first king of Egypt is given, which\nEbers states[511] to be the earliest of all recipes preserved to us, the\ndate of its origin being about 4000 B.C.\n\nI could give many Egyptian and other ancient references to fancy vessels\nof glass and other materials used in the pursuit of ministering to the\nsick. One extremely interesting direct reference to the use of medicinal\nvases at a very early date has recently been brought to the attention of\nthe public. I refer to a translation of an Assyrian fragment made by Mr.\nJ. Halevy, given in \u201cThe Records of the Past.\u201d[512] It is so interesting\nfrom several points of view that I will give it here in its entirety:\u2014\n\n    \u201cFor the eruptions and humors which afflict the body:\n    Fill a vase which has held drugs with water from an inexhaustible\n        well;\n    Put in it a shoot of \u2e3a a \u2e3a reed, some date-sugar, some urine,\n        some bitter hydromel\n    Add to it some \u2e3a;\n    Saturate it with pure water [and]\n    Pour upon it the water of the [sick] man.\n    Cut reeds in an elevated meadow;\n    Beat some pure date-sugar with some pure honey;\n    Add some sweet oil which comes from the mountain;\n    Mix them together.\n    Rub [with this ointment] the body of the [sick man].\u201d\n\nThe reference to the \u201cart of the apothecary\u201d made in the Bible[513] has\nbeen regarded as \u201cthe first recorded notice upon the subject of medicine\nand pharmacy,\u201d\u2014as, for example, by the late professor, Dr. George B.\nWood;[514] but here we have explicit evidence that farther back, say\n1000 years before the time of Moses, people were in the habit of having\nmedicines stored in vases of a set kind, and that the Babylonians had\nconsiderable pharmaceutical knowledge, as well as that their medical\npractice was not exclusively magical; or, as Mr. Halevy puts it, \u201cit\nproves that the Babylonians were in the possession of a rational medicine\nas well as a magical one.\u201d[515] He further remarks that it is \u201cthe only\nknown specimen of an Assyro-Babylonian prescription.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII.\n\nMISCELLANEOUS MEDICAL SYMBOLS.\n\n\nTHE BARBER\u2019S AND SURGEON\u2019S POLE.\u2014The peculiar pole made use of by barbers\nas a sign seems to have been medical in origin. For a long time the\nbarber performed all the duties of the surgeon. It was in the year 1461\nthat, on petition, King Edward IV granted \u201cthe freemen of the Mystery of\nBarbers of the city of London, using the mystery or faculty of surgery,\u201d\n\u201cthe mystery,\u201d which constituted the beginning of the present Royal\nCollege of Surgeons of England.[516] It was not, however, until the\nmiddle of the eighteenth century (1745) that each began to limit his\nfunctions.\n\nThe sign is generally explained thus: The pole represents a stick,\nusually held in his hand by the patient while getting bled, and the\nred and white spiral stripes, blood and a bandage, respectively. The\ncolors, it may be observed, are not always arranged in spiral parallel\nstripes; nor are the colors limited to red and white. The use of blue\nwith, or even without, red is partly allowable, on account of venous\nblood being somewhat bluish in hue. Mr. Jeaffreson, indeed, says that\n\u201cthe chirurgical pole, properly tricked out, ought to have a line of blue\npaint, another of red, and a third of white,\u201d[517] spirally arranged.\n\nOn the top of the pole there is usually placed, in Great Britain, France,\nand other European countries, a brass basin, with a semicircular gap in\none side. This vessel is used by the barber to keep the clothes of his\npatrons from being soiled. With a gallipot, instead of the basin, one\nhas the real pole of the surgeon, which has been extensively used as a\nsign. Without either, it is in use by the barbers in this country. Lord\nThurlow, a member of the House of Commons, delivered a speech on the 17th\nof July, 1797, in opposition to the Surgeons\u2019 Incorporation Bill, in\nwhich he said: \u201cBy a statute, still in force, the barbers and surgeons\nwere each to use a pole. The barbers were to have theirs blue and white\nstriped, with no appendage; but the surgeons\u2019, which was the same in\nother respects, was likewise to have a gallipot and a red flag, to denote\nthe particular nature of their vocation.\u201d\n\nTHE COLOR YELLOW.\u2014It is a well-known fact that yellow is a\ncharacteristically medical color. A flag of this color is in use at\nlazarettos, and it is often placed at plague-stricken spots, as a warning\nto the observer to keep away. How is the medical import of the color to\nbe accounted for? In Christian symbolism it signifies faith, but one\nmust turn, I believe, to astrology to learn the reason of its medical\nsignificance. To the astrologer, yellow was the color of the sun; and\nit was to this planet, anciently so regarded, that the possession of\ngreatest influence over disease was accorded.\n\nTHE PHYSICIAN\u2019S CONVEYANCE.\u2014It is said that Asclepiades, the ancient\nquack, perambulated the world on a cow\u2019s back, living on her milk as\nhe went along. We have no reason to believe that such a mode of moving\nfrom point to point ever became a professional custom; but physicians in\nrecent times have always had, in most places, characteristic methods of\ntravel, in their rounds among their patients.\n\nIt appears that, previous to the reign of Charles II, it was customary\nfor the English doctors to visit on horseback, \u201csitting,\u201d as Jeaffreson\nsays, \u201csideways on foot-cloths, like women.\u201d[518] At any rate, Aubrey\nsays that Harvey \u201crode on horseback with a foot-cloth, his men following\non foot, as the fashion then was, which was very decent, now quite\ndiscontinued.\u201d[519] Later, carriages of various kinds, some very showy,\ncame into vogue.\n\nFor many years the physicians of Philadelphia, as of other prominent\nAmerican cities, have been known, as they have gone about their duties,\nby their use of a special form of phaeton. It is a four-wheeled\nconveyance, with a fixed top, and is drawn by one horse. Riding in it\nis pleasant, and its generous top protects well in bad weather. Several\nyears ago a two-wheeled modification of it was introduced, but it did not\nbecome popular, and of late has been disappearing. By a few of the more\nwell-to-do in the profession, two-horse carriages of various styles are\nused; but there is nothing characteristic about them.\n\nTHE PHYSICIAN\u2019S GOLD-HEADED CANE.\u2014Much might be written about the\ngold-headed cane of the physician. Although it has had its day, it\nwas long considered an important part of a medical outfit. Jeaffreson\nventures to affirm that formerly \u201cno doctor would have presumed to pay\na professional visit, or even to be seen in public, without this mystic\nwand.\u201d[520] What was its history? Did it come down to our time as a\nrepresentative of the one placed in the hand of the god of medicine\nby the artists? Jeaffreson expresses the opinion that it is \u201ca relic\nof the conjuring paraphernalia with which the healer in ignorant and\nsuperstitious times always worked upon the imagination of the credulous,\u201d\nand that \u201cit descended to him from Hermes and Mercurius.\u201d \u201cIt was a\nrelic,\u201d he adds, \u201cof old jugglery, and of yet older religion.\u201d[521]\nAs the reader is aware, these statements are open to criticism. But,\nwhatever its origin may have been, it was almost universally used by\nphysicians until recently.\n\nThe physician\u2019s cane was generally smooth, of moderate weight, and with\na gold head in the form of a knob. A gold head! What was the meaning\nof that? Was it used because of the bearer\u2019s reputed love of the\nprecious metal? Chaucer says, and with charming casuistry, in the famous\ndescription of his doctor:\u2014\n\n    \u201cFor gould in physike is a cordial;\n    Therefore, he lovede gould in special.\u201d[522]\n\nIt may, then, have been its medicinal virtues, virtues still occasionally\nlauded by therapeutic prospectors, which suggested the use of it in the\ncane. But, after all, the desire to make a good appearance may have been\nthe reason for its use.\n\nThe head of the cane was not always solid; on the contrary, it was often,\nlike many a one\u2019s, doubtless, who carried it, hollow. In the cavity, it\nwas customary to keep something medicinal, such as ammonia. About this\nthere was much mystery in the minds of the populace. Jeaffreson, who may\nvery properly be regarded as of this class, says that the doctor \u201calways\nheld it to his nose, when he approached a sick person, so that its fumes\nmight protect him from the noxious exhalations of his patient.\u201d[523]\nSomething of the kind is still supposed by many to be done. The idea\nwas entertained by more than a few, that within the head of the cane\nexisted, in some cases at least, a familiar spirit which gave the owner\nextraordinary power. Paracelsus was reputed to have within the pummel of\nhis long sword, which he used instead of a cane, a genius, in the form of\na bird, which enabled him to perform wonders. Butler speaks of it thus:\u2014\n\n    \u201cBombastus kept a devil\u2019s bird,\n    Shut up in the pummel of his sword,\n    That taught him all the cunning pranks\n    Of past and future mountebanks.\u201d[524]\n\nAlchemists said that it was the philosopher\u2019s stone, but it has been with\nbetter reason conjectured[525] that it was laudanum,\u2014an agent which the\nbold, talented quack was in the habit of using much with striking results.\n\nThere is preserved, in the College of Physicians of London, a cane which\nwas carried successively by Drs. Radcliffe, Mead, Askew, Pitcairn, and\nBaillie. On it are coats-of-arms used by the distinguished carriers of\nit. The gold head of it is in the form of a crooked cross-bar, and not a\nknob,\u2014the orthodox one. A book has been written with it for the title,\ntreating of its several owners.[526]\n\nTHE PHYSICIAN\u2019S DRESS.\u2014At the present time there is nothing about the\ndress of the physician symbolic of his calling. Formerly the case was\ndifferent. Until less than a century ago, the dress of the members of the\nmedical profession was both decidedly typical and remarkable. It was worn\nlast, it is said, by Dr. Henry Revell Reynolds, one of the physicians\nof George III. The items of it were: a well-powdered three-tailed wig,\na silk coat, breeches, stockings, buckled shoes, and lace ruffles. Says\nJeaffreson: \u201cNext to his cane, the physician\u2019s wig was the most important\nof his accoutrements. It gave profound learning and wise thought to lads\njust out of their teens.\u201d[527] If this were the case it should be coaxed\ninto use again.\n\nTHE PHYSICIAN\u2019S RING.\u2014Among the ancients, rings were held in high\nesteem. The signet of Solomon, which had considerable to do with the\nbuilding of the great temple, and the ring of Gyges, the shepherd of the\nking of Lydia, through which he could become invisible and see people\nat pleasure, are examples of the surprising powers often accorded to\nthem. One was, until a period not far distant, an important item of the\ninsignia of the medical man. It is spoken of in one of the spurious\nHippocratic works. The seal variety was the orthodox one. Different\nstones were used, and on these were engraved various designs. As\nindicative of his position, a learned writer says that the doctor wore\nthe ring \u201con the third finger of the right hand.\u201d[528]\n\nThe physician\u2019s ring was viewed generally in the light of an amulet,\nor talisman. The engraving it bore had much to do with its supposed\nvirtues; and the stone also gave it special value. Aubrey thus refers to\na sapphire ring: \u201cThey say it preserves from infection and pestilential\ndiseases. See Albertus Magnus _de hoc_. I warrant he has recited virtues\nenough of it.\u201d[529] Red carnelian was believed to be curative of\nh\u00e6morrhage, and coral of nervous affections.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX.\n\nMEDICAL SYMBOLISM IN PRACTICE.\n\n\nIt is hardly necessary to say to the reader who has followed me this far\nthat the scope of medical symbolism is not very restricted. In extent\nit is obviously not limited; nor is it without variety and the means of\nvariety enough. Yet how little use does one see made of it! How seldom\ndo publishers take any advantage whatever of it, on the covers of their\nbooks or anywhere else! And what little is here and there attempted is\napt to be a trifle preposterous, on a par with the misuse of the serpent\nby the quack-medicine man, who confounds the most obvious religious\n(Christian) significance of it with the medical.\n\nExamples without limit of questionable medical symbols might be given.\nHere is a publisher who makes use of the caduceus of Hermes; there is one\nwho displays the club of Hercules, with a rather venomous-looking serpent\ncrawling down it from aloft; and yonder one who exhibits a skull on a\nclosed book, suggestive of a hopeless meditation on death,\u2014the reverse of\nwhat the physician should indulge in. But, at a time when the absence of\nsymbols is almost the rule, perhaps one should try to be a little blind\nto the faults of those which are met with.\n\nOf a collection of medical symbols on hand, few are notably good. I may\ninstance a fair specimen. On the title-page of a journal edited by the\nlate Dr. Dunglison, a learned and sensible man, _The American Medical\nIntelligencer_, which had a brief existence in the latter half of the\nfourth decade of this century, appears the figure a copy of which is here\ngiven (Fig. 26). The idea is better than its execution.\n\nIdeas for symbolic designs of medical import are not scarce. The\ninstruments and drugs used by the disciples of \u00c6sculapius afford a host,\nif one does not wish to turn to mythology or anything allied. But,\nalthough the scientific physician might properly hesitate about using,\nsay, an emblem of St. Luke, the patron saint of physicians, there are\nmythological and related conceptions, many of which might be utilized to\ngood purpose. Thus, if it be desired to give an Egyptian design on the\ncover of a book, say, on obstetrics, the main part of an admirable one\nmay be found ready at hand on the wall of the great temple at Luxor.[530]\nIt is the scene\u2014and a sufficiently chaste one, too\u2014of the maiden mother\ngiving birth to the future king, Amunotoph III, for whom the temple or\npalace was erected about 1400 B.C. She is seated on the midwife\u2019s stool,\nas described in the Bible,[531] while two nurses have her by the hands,\ndoing what they can to ease the pains of labor. Or, a representation\nof Pasht, Bubastis, or Sekhet, the sister of Horus and mother of\nImhotep,\u2014who generally appeared cat-headed because the cat, a most sacred\nanimal, was consecrated to her,\u2014would not be inappropriate; for, to use\nthe words of Ebers, \u201cshe seems to have been honored as the deity who\nconferred the blessing of children and watched over their birth.\u201d[532]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 26.\u2014A MEDICAL SYMBOL.]\n\nBut, for a design of obstetrical import, there could probably be few\nbetter than one in which prominence were given to the good housewifery\nsymbols,\u2014the pestle, hatchet, and broom; those, respectively, of\nPilumnus, a god of children; Intercidona, the goddess who first taught\nthe art of cutting firewood; and Deverra, the goddess who invented the\nbroom, that great instrument of cleanness and enemy of the Typhon, or,\nI may say, Hydra, of many modern doctors,\u2014the disease-germ: the deities\nthat saved the pregnant woman from harm from her special enemies, the\nunclean sylvan gods. The broom! Wise old Romans! Wiser than the unsteady\nenthusiasts of our time, with bottles of carbolic acid in their hands\nyesterday and of corrosive sublimate to-day. And with these symbols,\nespecially if the design were for a work by a female author, there might\nbe given a figure of Juno Lucina, the special friend of women in labor,\nthe type of the Eileithyiai, the handmaids of Hera, of the Greeks.\n\nAnd here I may observe that, according to ancient custom, the goddess\nJuno Lucina should be represented with one hand empty and, as it were,\nready to receive the coming infant, and with the other holding a lighted\ntorch, a symbol of life. The torch should be erect, for when the flame\nis turned downward it signifies death. In the seal of the American\nGyn\u00e6cological Society, a woman, possibly meant for Juno, is represented\nwith a torch in her right hand and in the other a sprig of evergreen,\nwith a baby resting on the arm. This is of obstetric import. The members\nof the society, however, consider themselves something else than\nmidwives. Judging from their title, they might be _petits ma\u00eetres_.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XX.\n\nTHE PENTACLE.\n\n\nBy way of conclusion, and at the risk of running too deep into occult\nlearning, I will give some account of a remarkable magic figure, of\ninterest to the physician, about which little appears to be generally\nknown, but which is often referred to in certain out-of-the-way lines\nof study. I refer to the pentacle, or triple triangle, the pentalpha\nof Pythagoras, the formulator of a celebrated system of philosophy,\nthe basal idea of which is that all things sprang from numbers. A\nrepresentation of it in its simple form is given herewith. On inspection,\nit will be observed that the figure has five arms, or points, five\ndouble triangles, with five acute angles within and five obtuse ones\nwithout; so that, if five\u2014a number made up of the first even (2) and\nthe first[533] odd one (3)\u2014be possessed of the virtue which the occult\nphilosophers have asserted, the pentacle must have much. It is, in fact,\nthe famous legendary key of Solomon, which has played a remarkable r\u00f4le\nin history. Tennyson, one of the few well-known authors by whom reference\nto it is made, speaks of it when he makes one of his characters (Katie)\nthoughtlessly draw (it can be done through one stroke)\u2014\n\n    \u201cWith her slender-pointed foot,\n    Some figure like a wizard\u2019s pentagram,\n    On garden gravel.\u201d[534]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 27.\u2014THE PENTACLE.]\n\nI have said that little is generally known about the pentacle. Here\nis some evidence: Ruskin defines it to be \u201ca five-pointed star, or\na double-triangle ornament, the symbol of the trinity\u201d[535]\u2014a wrong\ndefinition, but not quite as bad as that given in Mollett\u2019s handsome\nwork, to wit: \u201cA figure formed of two triangles, intersected so as to\nform a six-pointed star.\u201d[536] The opinion is expressed by Bayard Taylor\nthat the magical powers attributed to it could be explained by the fact\nthat, being made up of three triangles, it was a \u201ctriple symbol of the\ntrinity.\u201d[537] This may be true, but it was regarded as possessing\nmysterious powers long before Christianity originated.\n\nA common mistake\u2014the one evidently made by Mollett\u2014of even learned\nwriters (as, for example, Oliver[538] and Fairholt[539]) is to confound\nthe pentacle with the seal of Solomon (called also the shield of David),\nwhich consists of two equilateral triangles so arranged as to form a\nsix-pointed star.\n\nBy the German writers on magic and kindred subjects, the pentacle\nis often called _Drudenfuss_,\u2014that is, wizard\u2019s foot,\u2014a term which\nMackey[540] takes to be a corruption of the word for Druid\u2019s foot, by\nwhich people it was in use, being often worn, as a symbol of deity,\non their sandals. As Bayard Taylor, however, says: \u201c_Drud_, from the\nsame root as Druid, was the old German word for wizard.\u201d In Mr. Blake\u2019s\ninteresting book,[541] a representation of a very old coin is given, on\nwhich the mystic figure appears.\n\nThe pentacle has been observed on a figure of Anubis, in Egypt. It\nis stated[542] that it was used on coins of Antiochus Epiphanes, and\nalso[543] of Lysimachus. I have seen it stated somewhere that it is one\nof the old sect marks of the Hindus; but this is an error, I believe. By\nreferring to Coleman\u2019s[544] or Birdwood\u2019s[545] work, it will be found\nthat it is Solomon\u2019s seal which has been so used. It was one of the\ntotems of the American Indians. Dawson[546] gives a picture of it as seen\nsculptured on the Roches Perc\u00e9es, a remarkable solitary mass of sandstone\non the plains west of Manitoba.\n\nI have said that the pentacle has been observed on a figure of Anubis.\nIt would appear to have been well known and highly prized by the early\nEgyptians, or rather, perhaps, I should say Egypto-Chaldeans, if a recent\nwriter, Mr. Robert Ballard, is to be believed. He declares that \u201cit is\nthe geometric emblem of extreme and mean ratio, and the symbol of the\nEgyptian pyramid, Cheops.\u201d[547] Let a pentacle be formed within a circle.\nAround the interior pentagon of it describe a circle. Around this circle\nform a square. \u201cThen will the square represent the base of Cheops.\u201d\nAgain, draw two diameters to the outer circle, intersecting at right\nangles, and each parallel to a side of the square. \u201cThen will the parts\nof those diameters, between the square and the outer circle, represent\nthe four apothems of the four slant-sides of the pyramid.\u201d Still again,\nconnect by lines the angles of the square with the outer circle at the\nfour points indicated by the ends of the diameters. Then \u201cthe star of\nthe pyramid is formed, which, when closed as a solid, will be a correct\nmodel of Cheops.\u201d\n\nMr. Ballard, it is to be feared, like Mr. Piazzi Smyth, has not the\npower to perceive coincidences and after-thoughts. His book, however, is\ndecidedly original and interesting.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 28.\u2014THE PENTACLE AND THE GREAT PYRAMID.]\n\nI may observe that if the plan of the great pyramid was fashioned after\nthe pentacle, and Mr. Proctor be right in saying that it is identical\nwith \u201cthe ordinary square scheme of nativity,\u201d[548] the figure of the\nastrologers used in casting horoscopes, it follows that the pentacle\nfurnishes also a key to the latter. Then, if it be a fact that the\npyramid was designed by and constructed under the superintendence of\nearly Chaldeans, one has reason to infer that the pentacle was of\nOriental origin. Probably it was at first a symbol of the sun,\u2014a purpose\nfor which it has been used by different bodies of mystics, and others.\n\nIt is interesting to notice that the figure was one of the symbols of\nthe great hero-myth, Quetzalcoatl, a light-god according to some, but\nreally, according to Reville,[549] a god of the wind, who was generally\nrepresented in the form of a feathered serpent. Thus Dr. Brinton\nsays: \u201cIn one of the earliest myths he is called _Yahualli ehecatl_,\nmeaning \u2018the wheel of the winds,\u2019 the winds being portrayed in the\npicture-writing as a circle or wheel, with a figure with five angles\ninscribed upon it, the sacred pentagram. His image carried in the left\nhand this wheel, and in the right a sceptre with the end recurved.\u201d[550]\n\nThe pentacle has been accorded great potency, and used extensively to\nkeep off witches and all sorts of evil influences, including the devil\nhimself, and hence it has served purposes very similar to those to which\nthe horseshoe has often been put. Aubrey says that it was formerly\nused by the Greek Christians, as the sign of the cross is now, \u201cat the\nbeginning of letters or books for good luck\u2019s sake,\u201d[551]\u2014something which\nold John Evelyn was wont to do in his works, and as Southey placed the\npuzzling monogram,[552] meant, perhaps, to have similar significance on\nthe title-page of his book, \u201cThe Doctor.\u201d One is found in the western\nwindow of the south aisle of Westminster Abbey, which, doubtless,\nthe black monks, as they chanted in the choir, often looked on with\nsuperstitious emotion. It may be seen on many a cradle and threshold at\nthe present day in the Fatherland.\n\nThe readers of Goethe\u2019s great work will remember that Dr. Faust had one\non his threshold, and that, when he began to perceive that there was\nsomething decidedly suspicious about the character of the \u201cpoodle,\u201d he\nremarked that\n\n    \u201cF\u00fcr solche halbe H\u00f6llenbrut\n    Ist Salomonis Schl\u00fcssel gut.\u201d\n\nHow Mephistopheles himself got in was afterward explained by his showing\nthat one of the angles of the \u201cDrudenfuss\u201d was left open.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 29.\u2014HYGEIA, A SYMBOL OF HEALTH.]\n\nDisciples of the Samian sage, cabalistic[553] Jews and Arabians, and\nothers, especially Gnostics, long viewed the pentacle as a symbol of\nhealth, and made use of it as an amulet, calling it Hygeia, the name of\nthe goddess of health. It was so called, and to some extent, likely for a\nsimilar reason, regarded as a sacred symbol of health, because it could\nbe resolved, it was believed, into the Greek letters which form the word\nHygeia; and these were placed one on each point of the figure.[554] It\nwas accepted, in fact, as a sort of rebus of the name of the celebrated\ndaughter of \u00c6sculapius. The scholarly and ingenious reader may be able\nto trace, more or less definitely, this reputed similarity. It is an\ninteresting feature of what is certainly a very remarkable figure.\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\n[1] That scholarly old writer, Ashmole, well says: \u201cWhat some light\nbraines may esteem as foolish toyes, deeper judgments can and will value\nas sound and serious matter.\u201d Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum, 1652.\n\n[2] Ecclesiasticus, xxxix, 1.\n\n[3] Natural History, xxi.\n\n[4] Introduction to a Scientific System of Mythology, p. 197. London,\n1844.\n\n[5] A Dictionary of Terms in Art. London, 1854.\n\n[6] _Ibid._ Article, \u201cAttribute.\u201d\n\n[7] History of the Egyptian Religion, p. 219. London, 1882.\n\n[8] Royal Masonic Cyclop\u00e6dia. London, 1877.\n\n[9] The Greek form of the name is Asclepios or Asklepios, \u1f08\u03c3\u03ba\u03bb\u03b7\u03c0\u03b9\u1f78\u03c2. The\nLatin form being the one in general use, I will adhere to it in this\nessay.\n\n[10] Itinerary of Greece (translation), vol. iii, p. 23.\n\n[11] Iliad, xi.\n\n[12] Ch. xxxviii, v. 3.\n\n[13] Cicero would appear to have duly prized the physician. I recall a\npassage of his to the effect that in no way can man approach so near to\nthe gods as by conferring health on his fellows.\n\n[14] Natural History, xxix, 7.\n\n[15] _Ibid._, xxix, 8.\n\n[16] Natural History, xxix, 8.\n\n[17] _Ibid._\n\n[18] De Medicin\u00e2.\n\n[19] Natural History, xxix, 1.\n\n[20] Smith\u2019s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.\n\n[21] Metamorphosis, xv. Translation by Mr. Welsted.\n\n[22] Although there is little evidence to show that serpent-worship was\nindigenous in Rome, Fergusson holds that \u201csuch an embassy being sent on\nthe occasion in question indicates a degree of faith on the part of the\npeople which could only have arisen from previous familiarity.\u201d Tree and\nSerpent Worship, p. 19.\n\n[23] The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. ii.\n\n[24] Livy, x, 47.\n\n[25] _Ibid_., xxix, 11.\n\n[26] In his Life of Publicola, Plutarch gives an interesting account of\nits origin. The sacrifice of corn and trees on a field belonging to the\nTarquins, in the Campus Martius, had much to do with it. These being cast\ninto the river, found lodgment at shallows where the island is, which\nfavored alluvial accumulations. See also Livy, ii, 5.\n\n[27] It is stated by Sir George Head that it is twelve hundred feet in\nlength and four hundred in breadth. Rome\u2014A Tour of Many Days, vol. iii,\np. 106. London, 1849.\n\n[28] A hospital established by Gregory XIII in 1581 and several\nresidences are also on the island.\n\n[29] God of fields and shepherds. The Temple of \u00c6sculapius was the most\nancient, having been dedicated A.U.C. 462.\n\n[30] Pilgrimage of the Tiber, p. 63. London, 1875. Tiberius ascended\nthe throne, A.D. 14. Plutarch, writing half a century later, says of\nthe island: \u201cIt is now sacred to religious uses.\u201d Life of Publicola. He\nstates that several temples and porticoes had been built on it, but makes\nno reference to a prison.\n\n[31] Natural History, xxix, 8.\n\n[32] _Ibid._\n\n[33] The Very Reverend Dr. Jeremiah Donovan states, in his learned work,\nthat \u201cthe temple (of \u00c6sculapius) being recorded by the Regionaries must\nhave existed in the fifth century.\u201d Rome, Ancient and Modern, and its\nEnvirons, vol. iv, p. 431. Rome, 1842.\n\n[34] Zoological Mythology, or Legends of Animals, vol. i, p. 416. London\nand New York, 1872.\n\n[35] It appears that the serpent has still devotees in Italy. It is said\nthat what is called a snake festival is held once a year in a little\nmountain-church near Naples. Those attending carry snakes around their\nnecks, arms, or waists. The purpose of the festival is to preserve the\nparticipants from poison and sudden death, and to bring them good fortune.\n\n[36] The port of Epidaurus not being within several miles of the grove of\n\u00c6sculapius, it is very improbable that a serpent found its own way from\nthe latter to the Roman ship.\n\n[37] Lives of Illustrious Men.\n\n[38] Itinerary of Greece (translation), vol. ii, p. 213. London, 1794.\n\n[39] Natural History, xxix, 23.\n\n[40] As by Aristophanes in Plutus. In Liddell & Scott\u2019s Lexicon \u03a0\u1f01\u03c1\u03ce\u03b1\u03c2 is\ndefined to be \u201ca reddish-brown snake sacred to \u00c6sculapius.\u201d\n\n[41] Thierleben. Grosse Auflage. Dritte Abtheilung. Erster Band. Seite\n348. Leipzig, 1878.\n\n[42] General Zoology, part ii, p. 452. London, 1802.\n\n[43] Coronella venustrissima.\n\n[44] Animal Kingdom, vol. ix, p. 263.\n\n[45] Reptiles and Birds, p. 92. New York, 1870.\n\n[46] The Medical and Surgical Reporter for January 5th and 12th, 1884.\n\n[47] Travels in the Morea, vol. ii. London, 1830.\n\n[48] Mr. Thos. W. Ludlow, of Yonkers, N. Y., has two interesting letters\non the subject in the New York Nation, September 28, 1882, and February\n15, 1883. No comprehensive account has as yet appeared in either the\nEnglish, French, or German language. An interesting article on \u201c\u00c6sculapia\nas Revealed by Inscriptions,\u201d by Prof. A. C. Merriam, in Gaillard\u2019s\nMedical Journal for May, 1885, partly meets the want.\n\n[49] Geography, viii. Translation in Bohn\u2019s Library.\n\n[50] Smith\u2019s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography.\n\n[51] Itinerary of Greece (translation), vol. ii, p. 212.\n\n[52] \u03a3\u03c4\u1f78 \u1f39\u03b5\u03c1\u1f78\u03bd, sacred place.\n\n[53] Mr. Ludlow says, in one of his letters, and also informs me\nprivately, that Mr. Kavvadias has found the theatre to be without the\nperibolus of the Sacred Grove. Following Pausanias, Mr. Leake states it\nto be within the enclosure.\n\n[54] There is reason to hope that Mr. Kavvadias will make valuable\ndiscoveries in excavating its ruins.\n\n[55] Anything about a physician which might be the means of conveying\ndisease from one to another is seriously objectionable. Woolen material\nis not the proper thing in the outside clothing, and one attending cases\nof contagious diseases should not wear gloves, unless he is wont to wash\nhis hands well after each visit.\n\n[56] Itinerary of Greece (translation), vol. ii, p. 213.\n\n[57] Travels in Morea, vol. ii, p. 428. The \u00c6sculapian priest is not\nrepresented as an honest personage in the \u201cPlutus\u201d of Aristophanes. He\nstealthily gathers the cakes from the altars and \u201cconsecrates these into\na sack.\u201d\n\n[58] Itinerary of Greece (translation), vol. ii, p. 27.\n\n[59] See note in succeeding chapter.\n\n[60] Professor A. C. Merriam, in Gaillard\u2019s Medical Journal, May, 1885.\n\n[61] Professor Merriam\u2019s article; also L\u2019Ascl\u00e9pieion d\u2019Athen\u00e8s, by Paul\nGirard, Paris, 1882. An interesting little book, in which much may be\nlearned about asclepia and the asclepiades. The Athenian asclepion was\nquite famous, and existed until beyond the fifth century.\n\n[62] Natural History, xxii, 2.\n\n[63] In reference to the asclepia or asclepions, as he calls them, Draper\nsays: \u201cAn edict of Constantine suppressed those establishments.\u201d And\nagain: \u201cThe asclepion of Cnidus continued until the time of Constantine,\nwhen it was destroyed along with many other pagan establishments.\u201d\nHistory of the Intellectual Development of Europe, pp. 386 and 397.\nRevised edition. New York, 1876.\n\n[64] Asclepion is from Asclepios, the Greek form of the name of the god\nof medicine. In Greek it is \u1f00\u03c3\u03ba\u03bb\u03b7\u03c0\u03b9\u03b5\u1fd6\u03bf\u03bd, meaning Temple of Asclepios.\n\u00c6sculapium is of similar meaning.\n\n[65] Vitruvius, who flourished in the first century before our era,\nexpresses the opinion that \u201cnatural consistency\u201d suggests the selection\nof situations affording the advantages of \u201csalubrious air and water\u201d for\n\u201ctemples erected to \u00c6sculapius, to the goddess of health, and such other\ndivinities as possess the power of curing diseases.\u201d It materially helped\nthe divinities. See second edition of his work on Architecture, p. 11, by\nJoseph Swift. London, 1860.\n\n[66] Encyclop\u00e6dia Britannica, ninth edition.\n\n[67] See William Adams\u2019 edition of the Genuine Works of Hippocrates. Two\nvolumes. London, 1849.\n\n[68] Hygeia and Panacea, both daughters of \u00c6sculapius.\n\n[69] Treatment.\n\n[70] _Op. cit._, p. 777.\n\n[71] In Smith\u2019s Dictionary of the Bible.\n\n[72] Most of the votive inscriptions which have been discovered by Mr.\nKavvadias at the Epidaurian Asclepion do not fortify this opinion,\nbut they do not serve to disprove it, because others of a different\ncharacter may be found. Moreover, the practice there may have been less\nscientific than at Cnidus, Cos, and elsewhere. However, the inscriptions\nbrought to light by Mr. Kavvadias are, generally speaking, poor enough.\nOne runs thus: \u201cCures of Apollo and \u00c6sculapius. Concerning Kleo, who\nwas _enceinte_ for five years. This woman, after being _enceinte_ for\nfive years, came as a suppliant to the god, and lay down to sleep in\nthe sacred chamber. As soon as she had gone forth from it and from the\nsanctuary, she gave birth to a male child. When the baby was born,\nhe washed himself in the fountain and set to creeping around his\nmother.\u201d\u2014See \u1f18\u03c6\u03b7\u03bc\u03b5\u03c1\u1f76\u03c2 \u1f08\u03c1\u03c7\u03b1\u03b9\u03bf\u03bb\u03bf\u03b3\u03b9\u03ba\u03ae, No. 4, 1883.\n\n[73] Genuine Works of Hippocrates (Adams), p. 229.\n\n[74] \u201cThe Father of Medicine\u201d was, of course, one of the asclepiades. He\nwas born, it is believed, in the year 460 B.C., and lived to be very old.\nHis genealogy is preserved in his works. As given in Adams\u2019 edition, he\nis of the fifteenth generation, in a direct line, from \u00c6sculapius. He\nwas of the Podalirius branch. In this connection I may remark that, if\nHippocrates took the oath of the asclepiades, he must have given it a\ndecidedly liberal interpretation, for it looks as if he divulged to the\nwhole world all the mysteries of the healing art of great consequence\nthen known.\n\n[75] It is improbable that Hippocrates was but a fair example of the\nasclepiades of his day. He has said himself: \u201cPhysicians are many in\ntitle, but very few in reality.\u201d (The Law.)\n\n[76] On the Sacred Disease.\n\n[77] _Ibid._\n\n[78] On Fractures.\n\n[79] Iatrum.\n\n[80] On Fractures.\n\n[81] On Articulations.\n\n[82] On Regimen in Acute Diseases.\n\n[83] On Ancient Medicine.\n\n[84] On Regimen in Acute Diseases.\n\n[85] In the fifth century B.C.\n\n[86] The Law.\n\n[87] It is a beautiful Biblical passage (date about 400 B.C.) which\nreads \u201cThe sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings.\u201d\nMalachi, iv, 2.\n\n[88] See Chaldean Magic, p. 180. Fran\u00e7ois Lenormant. London, 1877.\n\n[89] Iliad, i.\n\n[90] Chryse\u00efs.\n\n[91] Agamemnon.\n\n[92] _Op. cit._, i.\n\n[93] Iliad, xvi.\n\n[94] It was doubtless from the idea of deliverance from suffering that\nthe term P\u00e6on was applied to Thanatos, or Death, as was sometimes done.\n\n[95] \u00c6sculapius.\n\n[96] \u03a0\u03b1\u03b9\u03ce\u03bd or \u03a0\u03b1\u03b9\u03ae\u03c9\u03bd, savior, healer, or physician.\n\n[97] Odyssey, iv.\n\n[98] \u00c6neid, vii.\n\n[99] Metamorphosis, i.\n\n[100] \u1f38\u03b7\u03c4\u03ae\u03c1 \u1f00\u03bc\u03cd\u03bc\u03c9\u03bd.\n\n[101] Smith\u2019s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.\n\n[102] The stadium equals 600 feet; 625 Roman or 606\u00be English feet make a\nstadium.\n\n[103] Cicero informs us that there were three distinguished physicians\nof the name. \u201cThe first \u00c6sculapius,\u201d says he, \u201cthe god of Arcadia, who\npasses for the inventor of the probe and the manner of binding up wounds,\nis the son of Apollo. The second, who was slain by a thunderbolt and\ninterred at Cynosura (in Arcadia), is a brother to the second Mercury.\nThe third, who found out the use of purgatives and the art of drawing\nteeth, is the son of Arsippus and Arsino\u00eb. His tomb may be seen in\nArcadia and the grove that is consecrated to him, pretty near the river\nLusius.\u201d On the Nature of the Gods, iii.\n\n[104] The Mythology and Fables of the Ancients Explained from History,\nvol. iii, p. 160. London, 1740. Translated from the French. The account\nof \u00c6sculapius given is one of the best I have met with.\n\n[105] Iliad, iv, lines 193-4. _Vide supra._\n\n[106] Itinerary of Greece (translation), vol. ii, p. 212.\n\n[107] Smith\u2019s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.\n\n[108] Walden, p. 85.\n\n[109] The Greek for raven or crow is \u03ba\u03bf\u03c1\u03ce\u03bd\u03b7.\n\n[110] Itinerary of Greece (translation), vol. ii, p. 211.\n\n[111] _Ibid._\n\n[112] Itinerary of Greece (translation), vol. ii, p. 211.\n\n[113] Geography, xiv.\n\n[114] According to Homer, it was at Tricca and round about that his two\nsons bore sway. Iliad, ii.\n\n[115] Diana.\n\n[116] Pythian Ode, iii.\n\n[117] As Grimm remarks, children brought into the world, like Macduff,\nby abdominal section, usually become heroes. Teutonic Mythology\n(translation), p. 383.\n\n[118] Itinerary of Greece (translation), vol. ii, p. 210.\n\n[119] Because of this occurrence it is said that the name of the Mount\nwas changed from Myrtium to Titthium, from \u03a4\u03b9\u03c4\u03b8\u03b7, a nurse.\n\n[120] Heroes were often indebted to dogs for kind offices. The Hindu\nSaram\u00e2 is the bitch which aids such when lost in the forests, grottoes,\nor darkness. See De Gubernatis\u2019 Zoological Mythology, p. 98. Grimm even\nsays: \u201cA widely-prevalent mark of the hero-race is their being suckled by\nbeasts or fed by birds.\u201d Teutonic Mythology, p. 390.\n\n[121] Itinerary of Greece (translation), vol. ii, p. 210.\n\n[122] _Ibid._\n\n[123] Pythian Ode, iii.\n\n[124] Leech was formerly a common name for the physician; such was the\nmeaning of the Anglo-Saxon _l\u00e6ce_ and the Gothic _leikeis_.\n\n[125] History of Greece, vol. i, p. 179.\n\n[126] Lenormant says that the Oriental Gandarvas, or celestial horses,\nwhich represented the rays of the sun, gave the name and the first idea\nof the Grecian Centaurs. Ancient History of the East, vol. ii, p. 13. Mr.\nSayce holds that \u201cHea-bani, the confidant and adviser of Gisdhubar, is\nthe Kentaur Kheiron.\u201d The Ancient Empires of the East, p. 156. New York,\n1884.\n\n[127] Iliad, xi.\n\n[128] Pythian Ode, vi.\n\n[129] This may have been a fraxinus, or true ash,\u2014a famous tree in\nmythical history. The mountain-ash, or rowan-tree (_Pyrus aucuparia_),\nhowever, has been believed from time immemorial to possess great magical\npowers. It averted fascination, evil spirits, and diseases. Faith in it\nis still wide-spread. See Curiosities of Indo-European Tradition and\nFolk-lore, by Walter K. Kelly, p. 158 _et seq._ London, 1863.\n\n[130] Iliad, xix.\n\n[131] _Ibid._, xi.\n\n[132] Nemean Ode, iii.\n\n[133] It is worthy of remark that, while the form of Chiron, or Cheiron,\nserves as a pharmacist\u2019s symbol, he has, probably, bequeathed his name to\nthe healer of wounds and the like,\u2014the surgeon. The word surgeon is from\nthe Latin, _chirurgus_, or, rather, the French, _chirurgien_. Chirurgeon\nhas some standing as an English word. The Latin, _chirurgus_, is usually\nsaid to have come from the Greek, \u03c7\u03b5\u03b9\u03c1\u03bf\u03c5\u03c1\u03b3\u03b9\u03ba\u03bf\u03c2, a word compounded of\n\u03c7\u03b5\u03b9\u03c1, the hand, and \u1f10\u03c1\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2, worker, meaning one who works with the hand.\nIt seems likely, however, that the name of the Centaur, \u03c7\u03b5\u03b9\u03c1\u03c9\u03bd, suggested\nthe application of the word to the surgeon.\n\n[134] Diodorus, iv; Pindar\u2019s Pythian Ode, iii.\n\n[135] Apollodorus, ii.\n\n[136] Hyginus. Poet. Ast., ii.\n\n[137] Natural History, xxix.\n\n[138] \u00c6neid, vii.\n\n[139] Pythian Ode, iii.\n\n[140] Natural History, xxix.\n\n[141] Republic, b. iii.\n\n[142] _Ibid._\n\n[143] This policy is inculcated in the \u201cInstitutes of Menu.\u201d The\nincurable Hindu is directed to proceed toward the invincible northeast,\nliving on air and water. Exposure in battle is also advised.\n\n[144] Herodicus introduced the new practice. He was a sickly trainer, and\ndid what he could to keep well; \u201cand so,\u201d says Plato, \u201cdying hard by the\nhelp of science, he struggled on to old age.\u201d Republic, b. iii.\n\n[145] Pythian Ode, iii.\n\n[146] History of Greece, vol. i, p. 159.\n\n[147] Pindar and various tragedians.\n\n[148] Republic.\n\n[149] Says Ahura-Mazda: \u201cThe man who has a wife is far above him who\nbegets no son; he who keeps a house is far above him who has none; he who\nhas children is far above the childless man.\u201d Zend Avesta.\n\n[150] Iliad, ii.\n\n[151] Hand-Book of Ancient Art and its Remains, p. 12.\n\n[152] Strabo, xii, 5.\n\n[153] A toga of limited dimensions.\n\n[154] Ancient Art and its Remains, p. 131.\n\n[155] Cyprus. London, 1877.\n\n[156] Handy-book of the British Museum, 1870.\n\n[157] \u03b2\u03b1\u03ba\u03c4\u03b7\u03c1\u03af\u03bf\u03bd. A bacterion is now a disease-germ. A marked instance of\nhow the sense of words may become changed.\n\n[158] Of course, it is possible enough that \u00c6sculapius carried a staff\nat times. The Greeks, however, were not so much given to the practice as\nsome other peoples, as the Egyptians (see Rawlinson\u2019s Egypt and Babylon,\np. 240. New York, 1885), or the Babylonians, of whom Herodotus (i, 195)\nsays that \u201cevery one carries a walking-stick carved at the top into the\nform of an apple, a rose, a lily, an eagle, or something similar.\u201d\n\n[159] \u1f48\u03bc\u03c6\u03b1\u03bb\u03cc\u03c2 means navel. Umbilicus was derived from it. The Jews\nregarded Jerusalem as the navel of the earth (see Ezekiel, v, 5), and\nalso every other people has flattered itself as having it within its\npossessions. (See chap. iv of Rev. Dr. William F. Warren\u2019s Paradise\nFound. Sixth edition. Boston, 1885.)\n\n[160] Strabo, ix, 3.\n\n[161] Republic, iv.\n\n[162] See Pindar\u2019s Pythian Ode, iv.\n\n[163] Strabo, ix, 3.\n\n[164] In most of the Oriental countries, including Egypt, there was\nalways more or less of a belief in one great divinity. \u201cThe Supreme\nOmnipotent Intelligence\u201d of the Hindus was \u201ca spirit by no means the\nobject of any sense, which can only be conceived by a mind wholly\nabstracted from matter.\u201d (Institutes of Menu). El was a name given\nthe Ineffable One by the Ph\u0153nicians and other peoples. Il or Ilu and\nJaoh, the \u201cbeing,\u201d the \u201cEternal,\u201d the \u201cJehovah\u201d of the Hebrews, were\ndesignations of him used by the Babylonians, and from him, it was\nbelieved, the great trinity, Anu, Hea, and Bel emanated. Some, however,\nespecially in early times, confounded him with Anu. Baal, the \u201cLord,\u201d was\na common designation of him in Syria and elsewhere.\n\n[165] Dictionary of Mythology. London, 1793.\n\n[166] Anantas.\n\n[167] Ancient Art and its Remains, p. 519.\n\n[168] The reader is doubtless familiar, through the Bible, with\nconsecrated stones. A Ma\u00e7\u00e7eba was a necessary mark of every \u201chigh place.\u201d\nJacob set one up (Gen., xxxi, 45).\n\n[169] See Lenormant\u2019s Ancient History of the East, vol. ii, p. 230. A\npillar, cone, or tree-stem, more or less ornamented, constituted the\nAsh\u00earah of the Syrians and others, which many of the Israelites long\nlooked on with favor (see Numbers, xxv, and 2 Judges, xxii), and which\nis in the authorized version of the Bible translated \u201cgrove,\u201d as in the\nphrase, \u201cthe women wove hangings for the grove\u201d (2 Judges, xxxiii, 7).\nIt was the image of the goddess of fertility and life, the Istar of the\nBabylonians, The Baal-peor of the Moabites, Midianites, and others, and\nthe Priapus of the Greeks and Romans were practically similar. I may add\nthat the _Phallus_ (derived from Apis, the Egyptian sacred bull), the\n_linga_ of the Hindus, has been taken by many peoples as emblematic of\nthe widely-worshipped, active, renovating power in nature, the sun; just\nas an oval or round figure, the _cteis_ of the Greeks, the _yoni_ of the\nHindus, has been of the passive power, the earth. (See Cox\u2019s Mythology\nof the Aryans). The latter is the Miple\u00e7eth, or \u201cabominable image for\nan Ash\u00earah,\u201d spoken of in the Bible (1 Kings, xv, 13, and 2 Chronicles,\nxv, 16). The whole subject is well presented in a little book by Messrs.\nWestropp and Wake,\u2014Ancient Symbol Worship. New York, 1874.\n\n[170] Ancient Art and its Remains, p. 442.\n\n[171] A name given to Hermes.\n\n[172] Transactions of the Victoria Institute, vol. vi, p. 329. London,\n1873.\n\n[173] \u201cAaron\u2019s rod\u201d is similarly constituted, but of different import.\n\n[174] Gemm\u00e6 Selectae. Amsterdam, 1703.\n\n[175] Mercury of the Romans was not much, except the god of commerce.\n\n[176] The posture only approximates that assumed in the act of\ngeneration. In this act the two serpents, in the words of Aristotle,\n\u201care folded together with the abdomens opposite.... They roll themselves\ntogether so closely that they seem to be one serpent with two heads.\u201d\nNatural History, p. 103. Bohn\u2019s edition. London, 1862.\n\n[177] Remains of Gentilisme and Judaisme, p. 38.\n\n[178] Natural History, xxix, 12.\n\n[179] \u00c6neid, iv.\n\n[180] Zoological Mythology, p. 406.\n\n[181] See Cory\u2019s Ancient Fragments, p. 23. Edition by Hodges. London,\n1876.\n\n[182] McClintock and Strong\u2019s Cyclop\u00e6dia of Biblical and Religious\nLiterature.\n\n[183] Historic Devices, Badges, and War-Cries. London, 1870.\n\n[184] Natural History, xxix.\n\n[185] _Ibid._\n\n[186] Myths of the New World, p. 3. New York, 1868.\n\n[187] Household Tales.\n\n[188] See Hyginus. Poet. Astr., ii, 14.\n\n[189] The literal meaning of _nagas_ is snakes. In his Indian Arts\n(London, 1882), Dr. Birdwood says: \u201cThe worship of the snake still\nsurvives everywhere in India, and at Nagpur was, until very recently,\na public danger, from the manner in which the city was allowed to be\noverrun with cobras.\u201d p. 83.\n\n[190] \u201cSerpent-Myths of Ancient Egypt,\u201d in Transactions of the Victoria\nInstitute, vol. vi, p. 321. London, 1873.\n\n[191] Mythology, vol. ii, p. 460.\n\n[192] Egyptian Mythology, p. 36. London, 1863.\n\n[193] Numbers, xxi, 9.\n\n[194] Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 8. A splendid illustrated publication,\nissued by the government. It treats principally of East Indian matters.\nLondon, 1873.\n\n[195] Brazen. See 2 Kings, xviii, 4.\n\n[196] From the Greek \u1f00\u03b3\u03b1\u03b8\u03cc\u03c2, good, and \u03b4\u03b1\u03af\u03bc\u03c9\u03bd, god, soul, fortune.\n\n[197] Uarda, vol. ii, p. 38.\n\n[198] One of the Pharaoh\u2019s \u201ctreasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.\u201d Exodus,\ni, 11.\n\n[199] On the Egyptian obelisk, originally from On (Heliopolis), the\ngreat seat of learning, now in the city of New York, in whose shadow,\ndoubtless, Joseph at times made love to the high-priest\u2019s daughter, and\nMoses learned the meaning of hieroglyphics, occurs the phrase, \u201cTum, lord\nof the city of On;\u201d and, what is of more interest in this connection, one\nwhich reads, \u201cThe god Tum, who gives life.\u201d I may add a stanza from a\nhymn addressed to Tum:\u2014\n\n    \u201cCome to me, O thou sun;\n    Horus of the horizon, give me help.\n    Thou art he that giveth help;\n    There is no help without thee.\u201d\n\n                                   \u2014Records of the Past, vol. vi, p. 100.\n\n[200] See 2 Kings, xviii, 5.\n\n[201] Egypt Under the Pharaohs, vol. ii, p. 376. Second edition. London,\n1881.\n\n[202] It is well known that this is not the correct form of the name. It\nwas lost at an early day, and is not to be found in the New Testament in\nany form. It was not to be spoken. Much interest has always been taken\nin this remarkable word. According to a recently-translated Assyrian\ninscription, the correct form of the name is Ya-u, or Y\u00e2hu. Mr. Hodges\ndwells on this highly-interesting discovery in his edition of Cory\u2019s\nAncient Fragments, p. 28.\n\n[203] _Op. cit._, p. 377.\n\n[204] Book of Wisdom, ii, 6.\n\n[205] _Ibid._, xv, 12.\n\n[206] The power of healing was a prominent and popular characteristic\nof the god of the Hebrews. \u201cI am the Lord that healeth thee\u201d (Ex., xv,\n26); \u201cI will restore health unto thee and I will heal thee of thy wounds,\nsaith the Lord\u201d (Jer., xxx, 17); \u201cHe healeth the broken in heart and\nbindeth up their wounds\u201d (Ps. cxlvii, 3); \u201cHeal me, O Lord, and I shall\nbe healed\u201d (Jer., xvii, 14); and other similar passages are met with\nin the Bible. Indeed, the curing of diseases has always been largely\nresorted to when the claim of divinity has been brought forward. It is a\ndeceptive test.\n\n[207] Naia tripudians.\n\n[208] Smith\u2019s Dictionary of the Bible.\n\n[209] Herodotus, ii, 74.\n\n[210] Note to ii, 74, in George Rawlinson\u2019s edition of Herodotus.\n\n[211] The reader may turn with advantage to Dr. J. S. Phen\u00e9\u2019s interesting\nillustrated essay on \u201cPrehistoric Traditions and Customs in Connection\nwith Sun and Serpent Worship,\u201d in the Transactions of the Victoria\nInstitute, vol. viii, p. 321. London, 1875.\n\n[212] Hymn to Apollo. Translation by C. C. Conwell, M.D. Philadelphia,\n1830.\n\n[213] No doubt the great home of the Indo-Europeans furnishes a closely\ncorresponding myth. But there is good reason to hold that the main\nfeatures of the great astronomical myths antedated the Vedas. Grecian\nmythology was largely derived from Egypt and Ph\u0153nicia.\n\n[214] Mythology, vol. ii, p. 197.\n\n[215] Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 3.\n\n[216] Murray\u2019s Mythology, p. 117.\n\n[217] Chaldean Magic, p. 114.\n\n[218] A graphic account of this mystic creature is given in an extant\nfragment of Berosus. He introduced all civilizing arts. See Cory\u2019s\nAncient Fragments, p. 59. Hodges\u2019 edition.\n\n[219] Five Great Monarchies, vol. i, p. 122.\n\n[220] \u201cThe Origin of Serpent-Worship,\u201d in the Journal of the Victoria\nInstitute, vol. ii, p. 373.\n\n[221] Dr. Brinton gives the name as Michabo. He gives an interesting\naccount of this great Algonkin myth in his American Hero-Myths.\nPhiladelphia, 1882.\n\n[222] Partly true.\n\n[223] Indian Myths, p. 45. Boston, 1884.\n\n[224] Mythology, vol. ii, p. 458.\n\n[225] Outlines of Primitive Belief, p. 75. London and New York, 1882.\n\n[226] _Ibid._, p. 77.\n\n[227] Myths of the New World, p. 107.\n\n[228] It is interesting to observe that, according to Miss Emerson, \u201cit\nis probable that the Indian derived the sacred symbols of his worship\nfrom the configuration of the constellations.\u201d Indian Myths, p. 316.\n\n[229] Buddha and Early Buddhism, p. 7. London, 1881.\n\n[230] The Great Pyramid, p. 100. London, 1883.\n\n[231] In an article on the \u201cAstronomy and Astrology of the Babylonians,\u201d\nMr. Sayce says: \u201cNext to the planets in importance was the polar star,\ncalled Tir-anna, or Gagan-same, or \u2018Judge of the Heaven,\u2019 to which a\nspecial treatise was devoted in Sargon\u2019s Library.\u201d See Transactions of\nthe Society of Biblical Arch\u00e6ology, vol. iii, p. 206.\n\n[232] Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid.\n\n[233] The constellation of Draco lies near to and to the north of \u201cthe\nDipper,\u201d or Great Bear, and is easily distinguished.\n\n[234] _Op. cit._, p. 101.\n\n[235] Homer\u2019s description of the shield of Achilles is shorter, and was\nprobably suggested by the same thing. Iliad, xviii.\n\n[236] See pictures of such in Astronomical Myths, by Blake, London, 1877.\nAlso, in Rawlinson\u2019s Five Great Monarchies.\n\n[237] It is believed that it is referred to in Job, in the verse reading,\n\u201cHis spirit hath adorned the heavens and his obstetric hand brought forth\nthe winding serpent\u201d (xxvi, 13, Douai version). The authorized is not\nliteral.\n\n[238] The Shield of Hercules. Translation by Elton.\n\n[239] Translated Pleiades. Job, ix, 9; xxxviii, 31; and Amos, v, 8.\n\n[240] Five Great Monarchies, vol. i, p. 122. See also his edition of\nHerodotus, vol. i, p. 600.\n\n[241] Those interested in this symbol should consult Schliemann\u2019s Troy\nand its Remains.\n\n[242] The swastika was so formed by Indians. See illustration in\nEmerson\u2019s Indian Myths, p. 10.\n\n[243] Totem is an Algonkin word, signifying to have or possess. It\nrepresented, among the Indians, the social unit or clan, the gens of the\nRomans.\n\n[244] Fortnightly Review, vol. vi and vii. N. S.\n\n[245] The Origin of Civilization and the Primitive Condition of Man, 1870.\n\n[246] Strabo, xiii, 1.\n\n[247] 1 Chronicles, xix, 2.\n\n[248] Indian Myths, p. 44.\n\n[249] The History of the Heavens. Translated from the French by J. B. de\nFreval. Two volumes. London, 1741, vol. i, p. 42. The first volume is a\nvery able and interesting mythological production.\n\n[250] Beginnings of History, p. 114.\n\n[251] Myths of the New World, p. 120.\n\n[252] \u201cThe Origin of Serpent Worship,\u201d in the Journal of the\nAnthropological Institute, vol. ii, p. 373.\n\n[253] By Plutarch, in Isis and Osiris.\n\n[254] In an extant fragment from Sanchoniathon, after the statement\nthat \u201cTaautus first consecrated the basilisk and introduced the worship\nof the serpent tribe, in which he was followed by the Ph\u0153nicians and\nEgyptians,\u201d it is said of the animal that it is \u201cthe most inspired of all\nthe reptiles and of a fiery nature, inasmuch as it exhibits an incredible\ncelerity, moving by its spirit without either hands or feet or any of\nthose external organs by which other animals effect their motion.\u201d See\nCory\u2019s Ancient Fragments, p. 22. Edition by Hodges.\n\n[255] Proverbs, xxx, 19.\n\n[256] Mr. Spencer says: \u201cThe rudimentary form of all religion is the\npropitiation of dead ancestors, who are supposed to be still existing and\nto be capable of working good or evil to their descendants.\u201d \u201cOrigin of\nAnimal Worship, etc.,\u201d in Fortnightly Review, vol. vii, p. 536. N. S.\n\n[257] Uarda, vol. ii, p. 249.\n\n[258] Myths of the New World, p. 108.\n\n[259] _Op. cit._, vol. ii, p. 38.\n\n[260] Comparative Mythology and Folk-lore, p. 148. London, 1881.\n\n[261] See Exodus, vii, 10-13.\n\n[262] The spinal marrow was believed by some in ancient times to be the\nseat of life. Plato entertained that view. See Tim\u00e6us, 74, 91.\n\n[263] In that hoary Egyptian work, The Book of the Dead (ch. 155), occurs\nthis remarkable passage: \u201cAll creation is, when dead, turned into living\nreptiles.\u201d\n\n[264] Rev., xvi, 9.\n\n[265] Pantheon, p. 271. Am. edition. Baltimore, 1830.\n\n[266] For much of interest about the laurel, see Plant-lore Legends and\nLyrics, p. 404, by Richard Folkard, Jr. London, 1884.\n\n[267] Thessaly.\n\n[268] The literal meaning of Telesphorus is \u201cbringing to an end;\u201d of\nEuemerion, \u201cprosperous, or glorious;\u201d and of Acesius, \u201chealth-giving.\u201d\n\n[269] Pantheon.\n\n[270] Tooke states that by _genius_ is generally meant \u201cthat spirit of\nnature which produces all things, from which generative power it has its\nname.... The images of the genii resembled, for the most part, the form\nof a serpent. Sometimes they were described like a boy, a girl, or an old\nman.\u201d Pantheon, p. 240.\n\n[271] Zend Avesta.\n\n[272] Herodotus, i, 140.\n\n[273] See Transactions of the Society of Biblical Arch\u00e6ology, vol. ii, p.\n245.\n\n[274] Ph\u00e6do.\n\n[275] Grimm justly remarks that sacrifice was a common feature of heathen\nmedicine; \u201cgreat cures and the averting of pestilence,\u201d says he, \u201ccould\nonly be effected by sacrifice.\u201d Teutonic Mythology (translation), p. 1150.\n\n[276] The Past in the Present, p. 164. New York, 1881.\n\n[277] Itinerary of Greece (translation), vol. ii, p. 211.\n\n[278] Pantheon, p. 271.\n\n[279] See Levit., xvi _et seq._\n\n[280] Ch. ii, 39.\n\n[281] Ammon, Knuphis, or Agathod\u00e6mon of later times.\n\n[282] Ancient History of the East, vol. i, p. 326.\n\n[283] The language of the Hebrews is essentially the same: _es_ or _ez_\nmeans a goat.\n\n[284] \u1f00\u03af\u03be.\n\n[285] The Mythology and Fables of the Ancients Explained from History,\nvol. iii, p. 160. London, 1740.\n\n[286] New System of Mythology, vol. iii, p. 456. Philadelphia, 1819.\n\n[287] Now called Beyrout.\n\n[288] Damascius, in his Life of Isidorus, uses the phrase \u201cEsmun, who is\ninterpreted Asclepius.\u201d\n\n[289] Daughters of Titan, by Astarte.\n\n[290] See Cory\u2019s Ancient Fragments, p. 14. Edition by Hodges.\n\n[291] From the Semitic word _Kabir_, great.\n\n[292] Cory\u2019s Ancient Fragments, p. 19.\n\n[293] Chambers\u2019s Encyclop\u00e6dia.\n\n[294] The temple of the god at Carthage was of great splendor and renown.\nSee Dr. Davis\u2019s Carthage and its Remains, ch. xvii. London, 1861. Says\nthe Doctor: \u201cThe Temple of \u00c6sculapius was as prominent a feature of\nCarthage as the Capitoline hill was at Rome, or as St. Paul\u2019s is in\nLondon\u201d (p. 369). It was on a rocky eminence (the Byrsa). Ruins of the\nstaircase still remain.\n\n[295] The city of Hermopolis received also the name of Esmun. In the\nBook of the Dead (ch. cxiv) the deceased is represented as saying, while\nadoring Thoth, Amset, and Tum: \u201cI have come as a prevailer, through\nknowing the spirits of Esmun.\u201d Thoth presided over this nome.\n\n[296] Bunsen maintains that the Cabiri were the seven archangels of the\nJews, originally \u201cthe seven fundamental powers of the visible creation.\u201d\nEgypt\u2019s Place in Universal History, vol. iv, p. 256.\n\n[297] See Prof. Lesley\u2019s interesting work, Man\u2019s Origin and Destiny,\nfirst edition. Philadelphia, 1868. For some reason the chapter on Arkite\nsymbolism is not given in the second edition.\n\n[298] Primitive Culture, vol. i, p. 218. London, 1871.\n\n[299] Saturnal, i, 20.\n\n[300] The Mysteries of the Cabiri, vol. i, p. 98. Oxford, 1803.\n\n[301] In Ph\u0153nicia he was the seven viewed collectively as \u201cthe soul of\nthe world.\u201d Bunsen\u2019s Egypt\u2019s Place, etc., vol. iv, p. 229.\n\n[302] Ancient History of the East, vol. ii, p. 221.\n\n[303] \u00c6neid, vii, line 773.\n\n[304] Tiele takes such a view of Anubis. See History of the Egyptian\nReligion, p. 65.\n\n[305] Nearly all ancient Hebrew, as well as Assyrian, proper names are\nexpressive of something about the birth or life of the bearers.\n\n[306] Mythology of Ancient Greece and Rome. Third edition. London, 1854.\n\n[307] The Hebrew word, like the Latin _vir_, means man in a distinguished\nsense (virile), and may come from the Egyptian _ash_, tree of life.\n\n[308] Caleb, or city of the dog, on the coast of Ph\u0153nicia, has been\naccorded the credit of the name of the god. See the Abb\u00e9 Banier\u2019s\nMythology and Fables of the Ancients, etc. (translation), vol. iii, p.\n160.\n\n[309] Possibly the first syllable of \u00c6sculapius, like the Hebrew _ishi_,\nsalutary, and _asa_, to heal, may have been from the Egyptian _usha_,\nhealth-bringing,\u2014doctor. See Gerald Massey\u2019s Book of Beginnings, vol. ii,\np. 301. London, 1881.\n\n[310] Hence the name, Canicular Year.\n\n[311] It does not now rise heliacally until the middle of August. But,\n4000 years ago it rose so about the 20th of June, and just preceded the\nannual rising of the Nile.\n\n[312] History of the Heavens, vol. i, p. 185. Anubis had various\nfunctions which cannot be spoken of here. He bore the souls of men to the\nnether world, like Hermes, of the Greeks, and assisted Horus in weighing\nthem. A passage in the Book of the Dead reads, \u201cHe is behind the bier\nwhich holds the bowels of Osiris.\u201d Evidently he might be regarded as the\ngod of undertakers.\n\n[313] Typhon, or Set, was regarded, indeed, by the Egyptians as the god\nSothis, or Sirius. See Bunsen\u2019s Egypt\u2019s Place, etc., vol. i, p. 429. But\nTyphon was not, in early times, regarded as simply the personification of\nevil. See Kenrick\u2019s Ancient Egypt, vol. i, p. 350.\n\n[314] Zend Avesta. Edition by James Darmesteter, in two parts, or\nvolumes, in The Sacred Books of the East, edited by Max M\u00fcller, vol. i,\np. 83. Oxford, England, 1883.\n\n[315] Iliad, xxii.\n\n[316] Such a staff is, indeed, shown by Wilkinson, and is given by Cooper\nin his essay, already quoted. From the presence of the hawk and ur\u00e6us,\none might more properly accord it to Horus.\n\n[317] Physic and Physicians, vol. i, p. 6. London, 1839.\n\n[318] Princess, vol. i, p. 210.\n\n[319] _Ibid._\n\n[320] See Cory\u2019s Ancient Fragments, p. 112. Edition by Hodges.\n\n[321] Bunsen, in Egypt\u2019s Place in Universal History, vol. ii, p. 89.\n\n[322] See Cory\u2019s Ancient Fragments, p. 113.\n\n[323] Ancient Empires of the East, p. 76.\n\n[324] Herodotus, ii, 84. Translation by Rawlinson.\n\n[325] _Ibid._, ii, 77.\n\n[326] Princess, vol. i, p. 17.\n\n[327] History of Ancient Egypt, vol. ii, p. 528. London, 1881.\n\n[328] Encyclop\u00e6dia Britannica, ninth ed.\n\n[329] Smith\u2019s Dictionary of the Bible.\n\n[330] Ancient Empires of the East, p. 76.\n\n[331] Jer., xlvi, 11.\n\n[332] Herodotus, iii, 1, 129.\n\n[333] Polydamna. Helen\u2019s enforced sojourn in Egypt is fully described by\nHerodotus (ii, 113-116), Thone, Thon, or Thonis, the historian speaks of\nas the \u201cwarden of the Canopic mouth of the Nile.\u201d The town of Heracleum\nbore the name.\n\n[334] Odyssey, iv.\n\n[335] _Ibid._\n\n[336] Natural History, vii.\n\n[337] Homer and the Iliad, vol. i.\n\n[338] Beginnings of History, p. 536.\n\n[339] Bunsen holds that Esmun and he were originally the same; \u201cas the\nsnake god he must actually be Hermes, in Ph\u0153nician, Tet, Taautes.\u201d\nEgypt\u2019s Place, etc., vol. iv, p. 256.\n\n[340] In the cut he appears counting the years on a palm-branch\u2014the\nideograph for year. (Fig. 12, p. 101.)\n\n[341] Ibis religiosa, Hab of the Ancient Egyptians.\n\n[342] Ibis falcinellus, the glossy ibis.\n\n[343] Book of the Dead, ch. lxxviii. Translation by Birch, in vol. v of\nBunsen\u2019s Egypt\u2019s Place, etc. The hawk is the usual symbol of Horus, just\nas the ibis is of Thoth.\n\n[344] Tiele pronounces Horus to be \u201cthe God of Light, the Token of Life.\u201d\nHistory of the Egyptian Religion, p. 54.\n\n[345] Manual of Mythology, p. 346. London, 1873.\n\n[346] Often spoken of as the Hercules of the Egyptians.\n\n[347] History of the Egyptian Religion, p. 154.\n\n[348] See Diodorus Siculus, i, 25; and Tacitus, xiv, 81.\n\n[349] Says Gibbon: \u201cAlexandria, which claimed his peculiar protection,\nglorified in the name of the City of Serapis.\u201d The Decline and Fall of\nthe Roman Empire, ch. xxviii.\n\n[350] See his Essay, p. 50.\n\n[351] Egypt of the Past, p. 15. London, 1881.\n\n[352] The capital of Lower Egypt.\n\n[353] Uarda, vol. i, p. 203.\n\n[354] History of the Egyptian Religion, p. 94. London, 1882. Tiele\nremarks that Imhotep was not only called Asklepios by the Greeks, \u201cbut\nlikewise the Eighth, thus showing that they regarded him as one of\nthe Kabirs\u201d (p. 95). I may add that the worship of the Kabirs, in the\ncharacter of cosmic deities, was early established in the region where\nMemphis stood. Bunsen, indeed, identifies Ptah and his seven sons with\nthe Kabirs. See Egypt\u2019s Place, etc., vol. iv, p. 217.\n\n[355] Vulcan of the Romans.\n\n[356] Ancient Egypt, vol. i, p. 333.\n\n[357] Transactions of the Society of Biblical Arch\u00e6ology, vol. iii, p.\n386.\n\n[358] See Fig. 13, p. 104. The characters of this name are all phonetic;\nbut very many are pictorial or symbolic. Examples of symbolic characters\nwill be given in the chapter on amulets.\n\n[359] An offering; food, peace, welcome.\n\n[360] Egypt\u2019s Place in Universal History, vol. i, p. 400.\n\n[361] Mysteries of the Cabiri, vol. i, p. 99.\n\n[362] See his work on Egypt, etc., in Asiatic Researches, vol. iii, p.\n392.\n\n[363] Cooper says that they were the two deities of the morning and\nevening twilight, and \u201cwere the origin of the Dioscuri of the Greeks.\u201d\nArch\u00e6ic Dictionary. London, 1876.\n\n[364] Zoological Mythology, vol. i, p. 353.\n\n[365] Evil has always been associated with darkness. Harmful demons have\nalways disliked light.\n\n[366] Mythology of the Aryans, vol. i, p. 391.\n\n[367] See Wilson\u2019s edition, vol. iii, p. 307.\n\n[368] _Ibid._, p. 103.\n\n[369] Ormazd, believed to have been originally identical with Varuna of\nthe Vedas.\n\n[370] Believed to be the Asclepias acida, or Sarcostemma viminalis, whose\njuice yields an intoxicating liquor.\n\n[371] Zend Avesta, vol. i, p. 141.\n\n[372] Demon.\n\n[373] Evil Spirits.\n\n[374] Zend Avesta. Translation by Darmesteter, vol. ii, p. 92.\n\n[375] The name is given in the cuneiform characters as found in Norris\u2019s\nAssyrian Dictionary, p. 853. It is spelled phonetically. The first three\nwedges are the sign or determinative of deities.\n\n[376] The devotion of Nebuchadnezzar to him is indicated in the Bible\n(see 2 Chron. xxxvi, 7, and Daniel, i, 2). The great king went so far as\nto say: \u201cMerodach deposited my germ in my mother\u2019s womb.\u201d Records of the\nPast, vol. v, p. 113.\n\n[377] In an article entitled \u201cNemrod et les Ecritures Cuneiformes,\u201d M.\nJoseph Grivel has occasion to speak of the names of the god. Amar-ud,\nwhich is apparently the same as Nimrod, is a synonym of Merodach. See\nTransactions of the Society of Biblical Arch\u00e6ology, vol. iii, p. 136.\n\n[378] The older Bel was Elum, father of the gods.\n\n[379] Chaldean Magic, and the Beginnings of History. To M. Lenormant\nmainly belongs the credit of opening up the valuable stores of learning\nwrapped in the Accadian and closely allied idioms.\n\n[380] A series of small volumes, twelve in number, issued a few years\nago, in London.\n\n[381] Silik-mulu-khi is rather a descriptive title than a name. It is the\ndesignation used in the magical and mythological texts of the Accadian\ninscriptions.\n\n[382] Of this serpentine god of life and revealer of knowledge, Sir Henry\nRawlinson remarks that \u201cthere is very strong grounds for connecting Hea,\nor Hoa, with the serpent of Scripture and the paradisiacal traditions of\nthe tree of life.\u201d See George Rawlinson\u2019s second edition of Herodotus,\nvol. i, p. 600.\n\n[383] Chaldean Magic, p. 19.\n\n[384] Assyria, its Princes, Priests, and People, p. 59. London, 1885.\n\n[385] Another symbol of this god was the thunderbolt in the form of a\nsickle, with which he slew the dragon of the deep.\n\n[386] Chaldean Magic, p. 190.\n\n[387] Records of the Past, vol. iii, p. 139.\n\n[388] Herodotus, who visited the country, states that the Babylonians\n\u201chave no physicians; but when a man is ill they lay him in the public\nsquare and the passers-by come up to him; and if they ever had his\ndisease themselves, or have known any one who has suffered from it, they\ngive him advice, recommending him to do whatever they found good in\ntheir own case or in the case known to them; and no one is allowed to\npass the sick man in silence, without asking him what his ailment is\u201d\n(i, 197). From this it would seem that Herodotus might rather have said\nthat the Babylonians were all doctors, or presumed to be. However, it is\nthought that Jeremiah refers to the practice in Lamentations, i, 12, when\nhe says: \u201cIs it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold and see if\nthere be any sorrow like unto my sorrow.\u201d A similar plan was certainly\npracticed elsewhere than in Babylonia. Strabo says that the Egyptians\nresorted to it (xvi), and in St. Mark it is said that the people \u201claid\nthe sick in the streets\u201d (vi, 56) in order to be healed by Jesus as he\npassed along.\n\n[389] Deuteronomy, xi, 18.\n\n[390] Records of the Past, vol. iii, p. 140.\n\n[391] Was this gonorrh\u0153a or diabetes? See Leviticus, xv.\n\n[392] Ana.\n\n[393] Hea.\n\n[394] Chaldean Magic, p. 4.\n\n[395] Chaldean Magic, p. 20.\n\n[396] _Ibid._, p. 22.\n\n[397] Lenormant remarks that the assimilation was probably made when\nMardux had become emphatically the god of the planet Jupiter, \u201cthe great\nfortune\u201d of the astrologers, which justified them in connecting with his\nother attributes the favorable and protecting office of Silik-mulu-khi.\nHe was originally a solar deity.\n\n[398] Chaldean Magic, p. 190.\n\n[399] Jeremiah, v, 15.\n\n[400] Or Shinar. See Gen., xi, 2. Essentially Babylonia.\n\n[401] See Smith\u2019s Chaldean Account of Genesis, p. 19. Revised edition, by\nMr. Sayce, 1880.\n\n[402] The Semitic language, called Assyrian, as the one spoken by the\nBabylonians, including part of the Chaldeans, before the people of Assur\n(see Gen., x, 11) became a nation, which was later than the time of\nthe great King Sargon (B.C. 2000); and here I may say that cuneiform\ninscriptions are largely Assyrian. I may add that Lenormant takes Assur\nto be Nimrod, and the latter Mardux, reduced to the position of a hero.\n\n[403] Transactions of the Society of Biblical Arch\u00e6ology, vol. iii, p.\n466.\n\n[404] Kaldu, or Kaldi, was the name of a tribe of Accadio-Sumerians that\nrose to prominence about nine centuries before our era. The title was\nsubsequently given to the whole race.\n\n[405] Zend Avesta, vol. i, p. 85.\n\n[406] _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 44.\n\n[407] North American Indians, vol. i, p. 78.\n\n[408] Ecclesiasticus, xxxviii, 13.\n\n[409] Ecclesiasticus, xxxviii, 13.\n\n[410] Bacchus.\n\n[411] Fire was duly esteemed by the ancients. The worship was closely\nrelated to that of the sun. Atar of the Zend Avesta means fire, and\na personification of it, spoken of as the son of Ahura-Mazda, is\ncharacterized as \u201cthe god who is a full source of glory, the god who is a\nfull source of healing\u201d (vol. ii, p. 8). The Parsis and also the Hindus\nwere forbidden to blow a fire lest the effete emanations from the system,\npresent in the breath, might contaminate the flame. Menstruating women\nwere forbidden even to look at it.\n\n[412] Zoological Mythology, vol. i, p. 410.\n\n[413] See Gen., ii, 7. Hippocrates appears to take _pneuma_, the breath,\nand the soul and vital principle to be the same. It is still a common\nthing to hear the breath spoken of as the divine and immortal element in\nman.\n\n[414] Ninevah and its Remains, vol. ii, p. 233. London, 1849. See Ex.,\nxxviii, 33-34, and 1 Kings, vii, 41-42.\n\n[415] Fir-trees were regarded with much favor in the East. Ezekiel likens\nthe Assyrian nation to a great cedar, envied by \u201call the trees of Eden,\u201d\nnone being \u201clike unto him in his beauty.\u201d Ez., xxxi, _passim_.\n\n[416] Medical virtues are inherent in fir-trees. Hence, there was a good\nfoundation for the Accadian superstition. It is curious to observe that\n\u201camong the Dakotah tribe of Indians the white cedar-tree is believed\nto have a supernatural power, and its leaves are burned as incense to\npropitiate the gods.\u201d See Emerson\u2019s Indian Myths, p. 241.\n\n[417] Beginnings of History, p. 90.\n\n[418] Mr. Sayce gives the name as Lubara. See Ancient Empires of the\nEast, p. 157.\n\n[419] According to Mr. Black, disease and death have been referred by\nthe unscientific to three great sources, namely: (1) the anger of an\noffended external spirit; (2) the supernatural powers of a human enemy;\n(3) the displeasure of the dead. See Folk-medicine, p. 4, published by\nthe Folk-lore Society. London, 1883.\n\n[420] The Origin of Primitive Superstitions. Philadelphia, 1881.\n\n[421] See Sayce\u2019s Ancient Empires of the East, p. 146.\n\n[422] Chaldean Magic, p. 64.\n\n[423] Says Tiele: \u201cThe operation or the sun is two-fold, beneficial\nand terrible; it quickens or it destroys life. The Greeks united both\ncharacteristics in Ph\u0153bus Apollo.\u201d History of the Egyptian Religion, p.\n45.\n\n[424] 2 Samuel, xxiv.\n\n[425] Ecclesiasticus, xxxviii, 15.\n\n[426] It appears that the idea of the devil is first brought into clear\nrelief in the Book of Wisdom, where it is said: \u201cBy the envy of the devil\ndeath came into the world\u201d (ii, 25). The Hebrew demonology is usually\nsaid to be of Iranian origin, but it may just as likely have sprung\nfrom a Turanian source, either directly or through their Semitic kin in\nBabylonia.\n\n[427] Job, ii, 7.\n\n[428] Set, called Typhon by the Greeks, the embodiment of physical and\nmoral evil, was regarded as the Egyptian god of death. Plagues were\nattributed to him.\n\n[429] The plague maiden of Teutonic folk-lore is somewhat like Dibbara.\nSee Grimm\u2019s Teutonic Mythology (translation), p. 1185.\n\n[430] Chaldean Account of Genesis, vol. viii.\n\n[431] Psalms, xci, 6.\n\n[432] 2 Sam., xxiv, 13 _et seq._, and 2 Kings, xix, 35.\n\n[433] The wife of Hea, the queen of the gods, Davkina, was a health\ngoddess. In an inscription Marduk is sent to a dying man, and it is\nfurther said:\u2014\n\n    \u201cSprinkle holy water over him.\n    He shall hear the voice of Hea.\n    Davkina shall protect him;\n    And Marduk, eldest son of Heaven, shall find him a happy habitation.\u201d\n\nSee Records of the Past, vol. iii, p. 142. She was invoked by women in\nlabor.\n\n[434] This figure is copied from one given by W. R. Cooper in his essay\non \u201cSerpent Myths of Ancient Egypt.\u201d See Transactions of the Victoria\nInstitute, vol. vi, p. 321. London, 1873.\n\n[435] The Art of Preserving Health. First published in 1744. One of the\nvery few great medical poems.\n\n[436] Tobias, viii, 10.\n\n[437] American Hero-Myths, p. 19. 1882.\n\n[438] This arrangement of the serpent is seen in an Egyptian priestess, a\npicture of which is given in Cooper\u2019s essay, already referred to.\n\n[439] It has been published, I think, in pamphlet form, but the copy I\nhave was issued in 1882 in connection with the March and April numbers of\na monthly published in the interest of Jefferson Medical College and her\nalumni, The College and Clinical Record. There are a dozen octavo pages\nof it.\n\n[440] Animal Kingdom, vol. ix, p. 309.\n\n[441] See Tooke\u2019s Pantheon, p. 296.\n\n[442] See Grimm\u2019s Teutonic Mythology (translation), pp. 588, 1150.\n\n[443] For Cooper\u2019s view of her origin, see quotation, p. 93.\n\n[444] Maut, Mat, or Mut, is to Amen-Ra what Artemis was to Zeus, and Juno\nto Jupiter. She might be viewed as a form of the more familiar Isis, and\nfrom close relationship is often confounded with Neith.\n\n[445] From address referred to on page 125.\n\n[446] Princess, vol. ii, p. 296.\n\n[447] See Plato\u2019s Tim\u00e6us.\n\n[448] The famous one brought from the East to Scotland and called the\n\u201cLee-Penny\u201d has an interesting history. Sir Walter Scott speaks at length\nof it in his work, \u201cThe Talisman.\u201d Says the great novelist: \u201cIts virtues\nare still applied to for stopping blood and in cases of canine madness\u201d\n(p. 287).\n\n[449] By Josephus.\n\n[450] The name signifies highland.\n\n[451] The Great Pyramid, p. 159.\n\n[452] It stands out prominent in the first chapter of Genesis. The whole\nhost of heaven was created for earthly purposes.\n\n[453] The reader of the Book of Daniel learns much of the repute of the\nChaldeans as astrologers. The Romans were in the habit of calling all\nastrologers Chaldeans. That people, I may say, never gave the class legal\ncountenance.\n\n[454] In an old Accadian tablet bearing on the observance of the Sabbath\nby the king, it is said, among other things: \u201cMedicine for his sickness\nof body he may not apply.\u201d See Smith\u2019s Chaldean Account of Genesis, p. 89.\n\n[455] According to the Bible narrative, which Lenormant says is \u201ca\ntradition whose origin is lost in the night of the remotest ages and\nwhich all the great nations of Western Asia possessed in common, with\nsome variations\u201d (Beginnings of History, p. xv), the luminaries were\nplaced in the heavens \u201cto divide the day from the night and to be signs\nfor the time of festivals, the days and the years\u201d (Gen., i, 14). This\nis from the Elohist version, which, with the Jehovist, may be found in\nLenormant\u2019s work. The ordinary version was drawn from the two.\n\n[456] Architecture, p. 219, 2d ed. By Joseph Swift. London, 1860.\n\n[457] It is well to state that the astrologer was the forerunner of the\nastronomer. In his interesting book on The Astronomy of the Ancients,\nSir J. Cornwall Lewes says: \u201cThe word \u1f00\u03c3\u03c4\u03c1\u03bf\u03bb\u03bf\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2 signifies an astronomer\nin the Greek writers. The word _astrologus_ has the same sense in the\nearlier Latin writers. In later times the distinction which now obtains\nbetween the words astrology and astronomy was introduced\u201d (p. 292).\n\n[458] The Greeks generally gave Atlas the credit of introducing it. See\nCory\u2019s Ancient Fragments, p. 82. Hodges\u2019 edition.\n\n[459] Tetrabiblos, i, 2.\n\n[460] In \u201cA Plea for Urania,\u201d issued in 1854, it is said that \u201cless than\ntwo hundred years ago an individual who entered upon the profession of\ndoctor of medicine, either in England or any of the European countries,\nwas obliged to pass an astrological examination\u201d (p. 246).\n\n[461] Canterbury Tales.\n\n[462] Gemm\u00e6 Selectae. Amsterdam, 1703.\n\n[463] Fascinum and penis are Latin synonyms.\n\n[464] This is still done in parts of China and elsewhere in the East.\n\n[465] Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme, p. 32. London, 1880.\nRepublication by the Folk-lore Society. First issued 1686-\u201987.\n\n[466] See Psalms, lxviii, 4, and lxxxix, 8.\n\n[467] Medical Economy during the Middle Ages, p. 92.\n\n[468] Chaldean Magic, p. 43.\n\n[469] Indian Arts, p. 104.\n\n[470] The star of Babylon is frequently spoken of in the Inscriptions.\nThe star of Marduk is the same. It is Dilgan, or Jupiter.\n\n[471] Act I, Scene 2.\n\n[472] ABRACADABRA is not the same as abraxas, but may have been derived\nfrom it. In the third century, and later, it was regarded as a capital\nremedy for malarial fevers.\n\n[473] Medical Economy during the Middle Ages, p. 94.\n\n[474] The letter Alpha = 1, Beta = 2, Rho = 100; Alpha = 1, Xi = 60;\nAlpha = 1, and Sigma = 200.\n\n[475] Egyptian Mythology, p. 93.\n\n[476] Chambers\u2019 Encyclop\u00e6dia.\n\n[477] The Care and Culture of Children, Philadelphia, 1880.\n\n[478] It is worth while to observe that Raphael was, according to the\nCabbala, the angel of the sun.\n\n[479] Tobias, iii, 25.\n\n[480] Nearly all savage and semi-civilized peoples have viewed the heart\nas a very mysterious organ. Not a few have regarded it as the epitome or\nsoul of the individual. In sacrifice it has played an important r\u00f4le. See\nAlbert Reville\u2019s work on The Native Religions of Mexico and Peru, p. 43.\nNew York, 1884.\n\n[481] There is the ring of the Zend Avesta and the cuneiform inscriptions\nabout it also.\n\n[482] Cyprus, p. 384. London, 1877.\n\n[483] 1 Sam., vi, 4 _et seq._\n\n[484] Chaldean Magic, p. 50.\n\n[485] The Past in the Present, p. 19 _et seq._ 1881.\n\n[486] Medical Economy during the Middle Ages. New York, 1883.\n\n[487] A practice long in use. See p. 110.\n\n[488] Urine of oxen. The supposed virtue sprang from certain mythological\nnotions.\n\n[489] It was probably connected with the god Sbat and the Egyptian Seb or\nCronus, the father of Osiris. See Transactions of the Victoria Institute,\nvol. xvi, pp. 136 and 160. London, 1883.\n\n[490] The Princess, vol. i, p. 210.\n\n[491] Chaldean Magic, p. 41.\n\n[492] Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme, p. 49.\n\n[493] Uarda, p. 118.\n\n[494] Institute of Menu, p. 154.\n\n[495] Ancient Egypt, vol. i, p. 254.\n\n[496] A Book of Beginnings. London, 1881.\n\n[497] _Ibid._, p. 101.\n\n[498] T served some as a symbol of the generative power. John Davenport\nsays that it was \u201cused indiscriminately with the Phallus: it was, in\nfact, the Phallus.\u201d Aphrodisiacs and Anti-Aphrodisiacs, p. 13. London,\n1869. Privately printed. Payne Knight states that the male organs\nrepresented as \u201cthe cross, in the form of the letter T, sometimes served\nas the emblem of creation and generation.\u201d Worship of Priapus, p. 48.\n\n[499] History of the Heavens, vol. i, p. 259.\n\n[500] See Occult Sciences, p. 222. A volume of the Encyclop\u00e6dia\nMetropolitana. London, 1855.\n\n[501] Superstitions Connected with Medicine and Surgery. London, 1843.\n\n[502] Historiaum, iv, 81.\n\n[503] North American Indians, vol, i, p. 70. Philadelphia, 1857.\n\n[504] _Ibid._\n\n[505] Indian Myths, p. 230.\n\n[506] Ecclesiasticus, xxxviii, 7.\n\n[507] Medical Economy during the Middle Ages, p. 27.\n\n[508] Medical Economy during the Middle Ages, p. 307.\n\n[509] History of Sign-Boards, p. 341. Second edition. London, 1866.\n\n[510] Schesch.\n\n[511] Princess, vol. i, p. 296.\n\n[512] The Records of the Past, vol. xi, p. 159. London, 1878.\n\n[513] Ex., xxx, 25-35. In the revised translation apothecary becomes\nperfumer.\n\n[514] Introductory Lectures and Addresses on Medical Subjects, p. 54.\nPhiladelphia, 1859.\n\n[515] Mr. Sayce, writing in 1884, states that \u201cthe fragments of a work on\nmedicine closely resembling the Egyptian Papyrus-Ebers have recently been\nfound\u201d (at Babylon). Ancient Empires of the East, p. 173.\n\n[516] Incorporated in the year 1800. Date of the present charter, 1843.\n\n[517] A Book about Doctors, vol. i, p. 7. London, 1860.\n\n[518] A Book about Doctors, vol. i, p. 13.\n\n[519] Letters and Lives of Eminent Persons, vol. ii, p. 386. London, 1813.\n\n[520] A Book about Doctors, vol. i, p. 2.\n\n[521] A Book about Doctors, vol. i, p. 2.\n\n[522] Canterbury Tales.\n\n[523] A Book about Doctors, vol. i, p. 3.\n\n[524] Hudibras.\n\n[525] Occult Sciences, p. 40.\n\n[526] The Gold-Headed Cane. By Dr. McMichael. London, 1828.\n\n[527] A Book about Doctors, vol. i, p. 11.\n\n[528] Finger-Ring Lore. By William Jones, p. 191. London, 1877.\n\n[529] Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme, p. 210.\n\n[530] See Sharpe\u2019s Egyptian Mythology, p. 19.\n\n[531] Exodus, i, 16.\n\n[532] Princess, vol. i, p. 37.\n\n[533] One was not regarded as a number.\n\n[534] The Brook.\n\n[535] Art Culture, p. 468. New York, 1874.\n\n[536] Dictionary of Words used in Art and Arch\u00e6ology. Boston, 1882.\n\n[537] In his notes to Faust.\n\n[538] The Pythagorean Triangle. London, 1875.\n\n[539] Dictionary of Terms in Art.\n\n[540] Encyclop\u00e6dia of Freemasonry. Philadelphia, 1875.\n\n[541] Astronomical Myths. London, 1877.\n\n[542] Broughton\u2019s Italy, vol. ii.\n\n[543] Notes and Queries, vol. ix, p. 511, third series.\n\n[544] Mythology of the Hindus. London, 1832.\n\n[545] Indian Arts. London, 1880.\n\n[546] Fossil Men and their Modern Representatives, p. 272. London, 1880.\n\n[547] The Solution of the Pyramid Problem, p. 92. New York, 1882.\n\n[548] The Great Pyramid, p. 35.\n\n[549] The Native Religions of Mexico and Peru, p. 57. New York, 1884.\n\n[550] American Hero-Myths, p. 121.\n\n[551] Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme, p. 51.\n\n[552] An equilateral triangle divided into three equal triangles by lines\nmeeting from the three angles.\n\n[553] Professors of the Cabbala, a mystic philosophy, believed that\nthere was a secret meaning in Holy Writ and a higher meaning in the law,\nand pretended to be able to perform miracles by the use of names and\nincantations. Auerbach gives an interesting account of them in his novel,\n\u201cSpinoza.\u201d He gives this as an instance of their mode of reasoning: \u201cThe\nHebrew word for Messiah contains the same number as the Hebrew word for\nserpent, in which form Satan seduced Eve; the Messiah will, therefore,\nbruise the head of the serpent and banish sin and death from the world.\u201d\n\n[554] The word _Salus_, the synonymous Latin name, was also used in the\nsame way. In Mrs. Pelliser\u2019s work it is thus seen. It is there spoken of\nas a device used by Marguerite of France, wife of Henry IV and the last\nof the Valois.\n\n\n\n\nCATALOGUE OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF F. A. DAVIS,\n\nMedical Publisher and Bookseller,\n\n1231 FILBERT STREET, PHILADELPHIA.\n\n\nBRANCH OFFICES:\n\nNEW YORK CITY: 117 W. Forty-second Street.\n\nCHICAGO: 24 Lakeside Building, 214-220 S. Clark St.\n\nATLANTA: 25 Old Capitol.\n\nLONDON, ENG.: 40 Berners Street, Oxford Street, W.\n\nORDER FROM NEAREST OFFICE.\n\nFOR SALE BY ALL BOOKSELLERS.\n\nPrices of books, as given in our catalogue or circulars, include full\nprepayment of postage, freight, or express charges. Customers in\nCanada and Mexico must pay the cost of duty, in addition, at point of\ndestination.\n\n=N. B.\u2014Remittances should be made by Express Money-Order, Post-Office\nMoney-Order, Registered Letter, or Draft on New York City, Philadelphia,\nBoston, or Chicago.=\n\nWe do not hold ourselves responsible for books sent by mail; to insure\nsafe arrival of books sent to distant parts, the package should be\nregistered. Charges for registering (at purchaser\u2019s expense), 10 cents\nfor every four pounds or less.\n\n\n=BASHORE\u2014Improved Clinical Chart.= _For the Separate Plotting of\nTemperature, Pulse, and Respiration._\n\nBut one color of ink necessary. Designed for the Convenient, Accurate,\nand Permanent Daily Recording of Cases in Hospital and Private Practice.\nBy HARVEY B. BASHORE, M.D. Fifty Charts, in Tablet Form. Size, 8 \u00d7 12\ninches.\n\n=Price, in United States and Canada, post-paid, 50 cents, net; Great\nBritain, 3s. 6d.; France, 3 fr. 60.=\n\n\n=BOWEN\u2014Hand-Book of Materia Medica, Pharmacy, and Therapeutics.=\n\nBy CUTHBERT BOWEN, M.D., B.A., Editor of \u201cNotes on Practice.\u201d One 12mo\nvolume of 370 pages. Handsomely Bound in Dark-Blue Cloth. _No. 2 in the\nPhysicians\u2019 and Students\u2019 Ready-Reference Series._\n\n=Price, in United States and Canada, post-paid, $1.40, net; Great\nBritain, 8s. 6d.; France, 9 fr. 25.=\n\n\n=BURET\u2014Syphilis: To-Day and in Antiquity.=\n\nBy DR. F. BURET (Paris). Translated from the French, with the author\u2019s\npermission, by A. H. OHMANN-DUMESNIL, A.M., M.D., Professor of\nDermatology and Syphilology in the St. Louis College of Physicians and\nSurgeons. To be completed in three 12mo. volumes. Volume 1, Syphilis in\nAntiquity. IN PRESS.\n\n\n=CAPP\u2014The Daughter.= _Her Health, Education, and Wedlock. Homely\nSuggestions to Mothers and Daughters._\n\nBy WILLIAM M. CAPP, M.D., Philadelphia. This is just such a book as a\nfamily physician would advise his lady patients to obtain and read. It\nanswers many questions which every busy practitioner of medicine has put\nto him in the sick-room at a time when it is neither expedient nor wise\nto impart the information sought.\n\nIt will not mar the most proper womanly modesty or refined feelings, and\nmay wisely be put into the hands of any woman or girl; is a book for the\nfamily; will bear repeated readings, and will be useful to refer to in\nemergencies. In one beautifully printed (large, clear type) 12mo volume\nof 150 pages. Attractively bound in Extra Cloth.\n\n=Price, in United States and Canada, post-paid, $1.00, net; Great\nBritain, 5s. 6d.; France, 6 fr. 20.=\n\n\n=CATHELL\u2014Book on the Physician Himself, and Things that Concern His\nReputation and Success.=\n\nBy D. W. CATHELL, M.D., Baltimore, Md. Being the Ninth Edition (enlarged\nand thoroughly revised) of \u201cThe Physician Himself, and What He Should\nAdd to His Scientific Acquirements in Order to Secure Success.\u201d In one\nhandsome Octavo volume of 298 pages, bound in Extra Cloth.\n\n=Price, in United States and Canada, post-paid, $2.00, net; Great\nBritain, 11s. 6d.; France, 12 fr. 40.=\n\nThis remarkable book has passed through eight (8) editions in less\nthan five years, has met with the unanimous and hearty approval of the\nprofession, and is practically indispensable to every young graduate\nwho aims at success in his chosen profession. It has just undergone a\nthorough revision by the author, who has added much new matter, covering\nmany points and elucidating many excellent ideas not included in former\neditions.\n\n\n=CLEVENGER\u2014Spinal Concussion.= _Surgically Considered as a Cause of\nSpinal Injury, and Neurologically Restricted to a Certain Symptom Group,\nfor which is Suggested the Designation \u201cErichsen\u2019s Disease,\u201d as One Form\nof the Traumatic Neuroses._\n\nBy S. V. CLEVENGER, M.D., Consulting Physician, Reese and Alexian\nHospitals; Late Pathologist, County Insane Asylum, Chicago; Member\nof numerous American Scientific and Medical Societies; Collaborator\nAmerican Naturalist, Alienist, and Neurologist, Journal of Neurology\nand Psychiatry, Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases; Author of\n\u201cComparative Physiology and Psychology,\u201d etc.\n\nFor more than twenty years this subject has occasioned bitter contention\nin law courts between physicians as well as attorneys, and in that time\nno work has appeared that reviewed the entire field judicially until\nDr. Clevenger\u2019s book was written. It is the outcome of five years\u2019\nspecial study and experience in legal circles, clinics, hospital and\nprivate practice, in addition to twenty years\u2019 labor as a scientific\nstudent, writer, and teacher. _Every Physician and Lawyer should own this\nwork._ In one handsome Royal Octavo volume of nearly 400 pages, with 30\nWood-Engravings.\n\n=Price, in United States and Canada, post-paid, $2.50, net; Great\nBritain, 14s.; France, 15 fr.=\n\n\n=DAVIS\u2014Consumption: How to Prevent it, and How to Live with it.= _Its\nNature, Causes, Prevention, and the Mode of Life, Climate, Exercise, Food\nand Clothing Necessary for its Cure._\n\nBy N. S. DAVIS, JR., A.M., M.D., Professor of Principles and Practice of\nMedicine in Chicago Medical College; Physician to Mercy Hospital; Member\nof the American Medical Association, Illinois State Medical Society,\netc., etc. 12mo. IN PRESS.\n\n\n=DAVIS\u2014Diseases of the Heart, Lungs, and Kidneys.=\n\nBy N. S. DAVIS, JR., A.M., M.D., Professor of Principles and Practice\nof Medicine in the Chicago Medical College, Chicago, Ill., etc. In one\nneat 12mo volume. _No. \u2e3a in the Physicians\u2019 and Students\u2019 Ready-Reference\nSeries._ IN PREPARATION.\n\n\n=DEMARQUAY\u2014Essay on Medical Pneumatology and Aerotherapy.= _A Practical\nInvestigation of the Clinical and Therapeutic Value of the Gases in\nMedical and Surgical Practice, with Especial Reference to the Value and\nAvailability of Oxygen, Nitrogen, Hydrogen, and Nitrogen Monoxide._\n\nBy J. N. DEMARQUAY, Surgeon to the Municipal Hospital, Paris, and\nof the Council of State; Member of the Imperial Society of Surgery;\nCorrespondent of the Academies of Belgium, Turin, Munich, etc.; Officer\nof the Legion of Honor; Chevalier of the Orders of Isabella-the-Catholic\nand of the Conception, of Portugal, etc. Translated, with notes,\nadditions, and omissions, by SAMUEL S. WALLIAN, A.M., M.D., Member of the\nAmerican Medical Association; Ex-President of the Medical Association of\nNorthern New York; Member of the New York County Medical Society, etc. In\none handsome Octavo volume of 316 pages, printed on fine paper, in the\nBest Style of the Printer\u2019s Art, and Illustrated with 21 Wood-Cuts.\n\n=Price, in United States and Canada, post-paid, Cloth, $2.00, net;\nHalf-Russia, $3.00, net. Great Britain, Cloth, 11s. 6d.; Half-Russia,\n17s. France, Cloth, 12 fr. 40; Half-Russia, 18 fr. 60.=\n\n\n=EDINGER\u2014Twelve Lectures on the Structure of the Central Nervous System.=\n_For Physicians and Students._\n\nBy DR. LUDWIG EDINGER, Frankfort-on-the-Main. Second Revised Edition.\nWith 133 illustrations. Translated by WILLIS HALL VITTUM, M.D., St.\nPaul, Minn. Edited by C. EUGENE RIGGS, A.M., M.D., Professor of Mental\nand Nervous Diseases, University of Minnesota; Member of the American\nNeurological Association. The illustrations are exactly the same as those\nused in the latest German edition (with the German names translated into\nEnglish), and are very satisfactory to the Physician and Student using\nthe book. The work is complete in one Royal Octavo volume of about 250\npages, bound in Extra Cloth.\n\n=Price, in United States and Canada, post-paid, $1.75, net; Great\nBritain, 10s.; France, 12 fr. 20.=\n\n\n=EISENBERG\u2014Bacteriological Diagnosis.= _Tabular Aids for Use in Practical\nWork._\n\nBy JAMES EISENBERG, Ph.D., M.D., Vienna. Translated and augmented,\nwith the permission of the author, from the latest German Edition, by\nNORVAL H. PIERCE, M.D., Surgeon to the Out-Door Department of Michael\nReese Hospital; Assistant to Surgical Clinic, College of Physicians and\nSurgeons, Chicago, Ill. In one Octavo volume, handsomely bound in Cloth.\nIN PRESS.\n\n\n=GOODELL\u2014Lessons in Gyn\u00e6cology.=\n\nBy WILLIAM GOODELL, A.M., M.D., etc., Professor of Clinical Gyn\u00e6cology in\nthe University of Pennsylvania. With 112 illustrations. Third Edition,\nthoroughly revised and greatly enlarged. One volume, large Octavo, 578\npages.\n\n=Price, in United States and Canada, Cloth, $5.00; Full Sheep, $6.00,\nDiscount, 20 per cent., making it, net, Cloth, $4.00; Sheep, $4.80.\nPostage, 27 cents extra. Great Britain, Cloth, 22s. 6d.; Sheep, 28s.\nFrance, 30 fr. 80.=\n\nThis exceedingly valuable work, from one of the most eminent specialists\nand teachers in gyn\u00e6cology in the United States, is now offered to the\nprofession in a much more complete condition than either of the previous\neditions. It embraces all the more important diseases and the principal\noperations in the field of gyn\u00e6cology, and brings to bear upon them all\nthe extensive practical experience and wide reading of the author. It\nis an indispensable guide to every practitioner who has to do with the\ndiseases peculiar to women.\n\n\n=GUERNSEY\u2014Plain Talks on Avoided Subjects.=\n\nBy HENRY N. GUERNSEY, M.D., formerly Professor of Materia Medica and\nInstitutes in the Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia; Author of\nGuernsey\u2019s \u201cObstetrics,\u201d including the Disorders Peculiar to Women and\nYoung Children; Lectures on Materia Medica, etc. The following Table of\nContents shows the scope of the book:\u2014\n\nCONTENTS.\u2014Chapter I. Introductory. II. The Infant. III. Childhood. IV.\nAdolescence of the Male. V. Adolescence of the Female. VI. Marriage: The\nHusband. VII. The Wife. VIII. Husband and Wife. IX. To the Unfortunate.\nX. Origin of the Sex. In one neat 16mo volume, bound in Extra Cloth.\n\n=Price, in United States and Canada, post-paid, $1.00; Great Britain, 6s.\n6d.; France, 6 fr. 20.=\n\n\n=HARE\u2014Epilepsy: its Pathology and Treatment.= _Being an Essay to which\nwas Awarded a Prize of Four Thousand Francs by the Acad\u00e9mie Royal de\nM\u00e9decine de Belgique, December 31, 1889._\n\nBy HOBART AMORY HARE, M.D. (University of Pennsylvania), B.Sc., Clinical\nProfessor of the Diseases of Children, and Demonstrator of Therapeutics\nin the University of Pennsylvania; Laureate of the Royal Academy of\nMedicine in Belgium, of the Medical Society of London, etc. 12mo. 228\npages. Neatly bound in Dark-blue Cloth. _No. 7 in the Physicians\u2019 and\nStudents\u2019 Ready-Reference Series._\n\n=Price, in United States and Canada, post-paid, $1.25, net; Great\nBritain, 6s. 6d.; France, 7 fr. 75.=\n\n\u201cThis little work is an admirably condensed statement of the clearest\nauthenticated facts on this subject known. The author is evidently a\nmaster in the art of clear, condensed statements of what is known, and\nhe could do a great service to science by \u2018boiling down\u2019 some of the\nthousand-page volumes that are coming from the press. This work is of\ngreat value to all physicians who wish to have the facts concerning\nepilepsy in the most available form,\u201d\u2014_Quarterly Journal of Inebriety._\n\n\u201cIt is representative of the most advanced views of the profession, and\nthe subject is pruned of the vast amount of superstition and nonsense\nthat generally obtains in connection with epilepsy.\u201d\u2014_Medical Age._\n\n\n=HARE\u2014Fever: its Pathology and Treatment.= _Being the Boylston Prize\nEssay of Harvard University for 1890; containing Directions and the\nLatest Information Concerning the Use of the So-Called Antipyretics in\nFever and Pain._\n\nBy HOBART AMORY HARE, M.D. (University of Pennsylvania), B.Sc., Clinical\nProfessor of the Diseases of Children and Demonstrator of Therapeutics\nin the University of Pennsylvania; Physician to St. Agnes\u2019 Hospital and\nto the Children\u2019s Dispensary of the Children\u2019s Hospital; Laureate of the\nRoyal Academy of Medicine in Belgium, of the Medical Society of London;\nMember of the Association of American Physicians, etc. Illustrated with\nmore than 25 new plates of tracings of various fever cases, showing\nbeautifully and accurately the action of the antipyretics. The work also\ncontains 35 carefully-prepared statistical tables of 249 cases, showing\nthe untoward effects of the antipyretics. 12mo. Neatly bound in Dark-Blue\nCloth. _No. 10 in the Physicians\u2019 and Students\u2019 Ready-Reference Series._\n\n=Price, in United States and Canada, post-paid, $1.25, net; Great\nBritain, 6s. 6d.; France, 7 fr. 75.=\n\n\n=JAMES\u2014American Resorts, with Notes upon Their Climate.=\n\nBy BUSHROD W. JAMES, A.M., M.D., Member of the American Association for\nthe Advancement of Science, the American Public Health Association, the\nPennsylvania Historical Society, the Franklin Institute, and the Academy\nof Natural Sciences, Philadelphia; the Society of Alaskan Natural History\nand Ethnology, Sitka, Alaska, etc. With a translation from the German, by\nMR. S. KAUFFMANN, of those chapters of \u201cDie Klimate der Erde,\u201d written by\nDR. A. WOEIKOF, of St. Petersburg, Russia, that relate to North and South\nAmerica, and the islands and oceans contiguous thereto. In one Octavo\nvolume, handsomely bound in Cloth. Nearly 300 pages.\n\n=Price, in United States and Canada, post-paid, $2.00, net; Great\nBritain, 11s. 6.; France, 12 fr. 40.=\n\n\n=KEATING\u2014Record-Book of Medical Examinations for Life-Insurance.=\n\nDesigned by JOHN M. KEATING, M.D. This record-book is small, neat,\nand complete, and embraces all the principal points that are required\nby the different companies. It is made in two sizes, viz.: No. 1,\ncovering one hundred (100) examinations, and No. 2, covering two hundred\n(200) examinations. The size of the book is 7 \u00d7 3\u00be inches, and can be\nconveniently carried in the pocket.\n\n=Prices, post-paid: No. 1, for 100 Examinations, bound in Cloth, United\nStates and Canada, 50 Cents, net; Great Britain, 3s. 6d.; France, 3 fr.\n60. No. 2, for 200 Examinations, bound in Full Leather, with Side-Flap,\nUnited States and Canada, $1.00, net; Great Britain, 6s. 6d.; France, 6\nfr. 20.=\n\n\n=KEATING AND EDWARDS\u2014Diseases of the Heart and Circulation in Infancy and\nAdolescence.= _With an Appendix entitled \u201cClinical Studies on the Pulse\nin Childhood.\u201d_\n\nBy JOHN M. KEATING, M.D., Obstetrician to the Philadelphia Hospital and\nLecturer on Diseases of Women and Children; Surgeon to the Maternity\nHospital; Physician to St. Joseph\u2019s Hospital; Fellow of the College of\nPhysicians of Philadelphia, etc.: and WILLIAM A. EDWARDS, M.D., formerly\nInstructor in Clinical Medicine and Physician to the Medical Dispensary\nin the University of Pennsylvania; Physician to St. Joseph\u2019s Hospital;\nFellow of the College of Physicians; formerly Assistant Pathologist\nto the Philadelphia Hospital, etc. Illustrated by Photographs and\nWood-Engravings. About 225 pages. 8vo. Bound in Cloth.\n\n=Price, in United States and Canada, post-paid, $1.50, net; Great\nBritain, 8s. 6d.; France, 9 fr. 35.=\n\n\n=KELLER\u2014Perpetual Clinical Index to Materia Medica, Chemistry, and\nPharmacy Charts.=\n\nBy A. H. KELLER, PH.G., M.D., consisting of (1) the \u201cPerpetual Clinical\nIndex,\u201d an oblong volume, 9 \u00d7 6 inches, neatly bound in Extra Cloth; (2)\na Chart of \u201cMateria Medica,\u201d 32 \u00d7 44 inches, mounted on muslin, with\nrollers; (5) a Chart of \u201cChemistry and Pharmacy,\u201d 32 \u00d7 44 inches, mounted\non muslin, with rollers.\n\n=Price for the Complete Work, United States, $5.00 net; Canada (duty\npaid) $5.50, net; Great Britain, 28s.; France, 30 fr. 30.=\n\n\n=LIEBIG and ROH\u00c9\u2014Practical Electricity in Medicine and Surgery.=\n\nBy G. A. LIEBIG, JR., PH.D., Assistant in Electricity, Johns Hopkins\nUniversity; Lecturer on Medical Electricity, College of Physicians and\nSurgeons, Baltimore; Member of the American Institute of Electrical\nEngineers, etc.; and GEORGE H. ROH\u00c9, M.D., Professor of Obstetrics\nand Hygiene, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Baltimore; Visiting\nPhysician to Bay View and City Hospitals; Director of the Maryland\nMaternit\u00e9; Associate Editor \u201cAnnual of the Universal Medical Sciences,\u201d\netc. Profusely Illustrated by Wood-Engravings and Original Diagrams, and\npublished in one handsome Royal Octavo volume of 383 pages, bound in\nExtra Cloth.\n\n=Price, in United States and Canada, post-paid, $2.00, net; Great\nBritain, 11s. 6d.; France, 12 fr. 40.=\n\nThe constantly increasing demand for this work attests its thorough\nreliability and its popularity with the profession, and points to the\nfact that it is already THE standard work on this very important subject.\nThe part on Physical Electricity, written by Dr. Liebig, one of the\nrecognized authorities on the science in the United States, treats fully\nsuch topics of interest as Storage Batteries, Dynamos, the Electric\nLight, and the Principles and Practice of Electrical Measurement in\ntheir Relations to Medical Practice. Professor Roh\u00e9, who writes on\nElectro-Therapeutics, discusses at length the recent developments of\nElectricity in the treatment of stricture, enlarged prostate, uterine\nfibroids, pelvic cellulitis, and other diseases of the male and female\ngenito-urinary organs, etc., etc.\n\n\n=MANTON\u2014Childbed; its Management; Diseases and their Treatment.=\n\nBy WALTER P. MANTON, M.D., Visiting Physician to the Detroit Woman\u2019s\nHospital; Consulting Gyn\u00e6cologist to the Eastern Michigan Asylum;\nPresident of the Detroit Gyn\u00e6cological Society; Fellow of the American\nSociety of Obstetricians and Gyn\u00e6cologists, and of the British\nGyn\u00e6cological Society; Member of Michigan State Medical Society, etc.\nIn one neat 12mo volume. _No. \u2e3a in the Physicians\u2019 and Students\u2019\nReady-Reference Series._ IN PREPARATION.\n\n\n=MASSEY\u2014Electricity in the Diseases of Women.= _With Special Reference to\nthe Application of Strong Currents._\n\nBy G. BETTON MASSEY, M.D., Physician to the Gyn\u00e6cological Department\nof the Howard Hospital; Late Electro-Therapeutist to the Philadelphia\nOrthop\u00e6dic Hospital and Infirmary for Nervous Diseases; Member of the\nAmerican Neurological Association, of the Philadelphia Neurological\nSociety, of the Franklin Institute, etc. SECOND EDITION. Revised and\nenlarged. With New and Original Wood-Engravings. Handsomely bound in\nDark-Blue Cloth. 240 pages. 12mo. _No. 5 in the Physicians\u2019 and Students\u2019\nReady-Reference Series._\n\n=Price, in United States and Canada, post-paid, $1.50, net; Great\nBritain, 8s. 6d.; France, 9 fr. 35.=\n\n\u201cA new edition of this practical manual attests the utility of its\nexistence and the recognition of its merit. The directions are\nsimple, easy to follow and to put into practice, the ground is well\ncovered, and nothing is assumed, the entire book being the record of\nexperience.\u201d\u2014_Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases._\n\n\u201cIt is only a few months since we noticed the first edition of this\nlittle book; and it is only necessary to add now that we consider it the\nbest treatise on this subject we have seen, and that the improvements\nintroduced into this edition make it more valuable still.\u201d\u2014_Boston\nMedical and Surgical Journ._\n\n\u201cThe style is clear, but condensed. Useless details are omitted, the\nreports of cases being pruned of all irrelevant material. The book is\nan exceedingly valuable one, and represents an amount of study and\nexperience which is only appreciated after a careful reading.\u201d\u2014_Medical\nRecord._\n\n\n=MEARS\u2014Practical Surgery.=\n\nBy J. EWING MEARS, M.D., Lecturer on Practical Surgery and Demonstrator\nof Surgery in Jefferson Medical College; Professor of Anatomy and\nClinical Surgery in the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery, etc.\nTHIRD EDITION. Revised and Enlarged. IN PREPARATION.\n\n\n=Medical Bulletin Visiting List, or Physicians\u2019 Call Record.= _Arranged\nupon an Original and Convenient Monthly and Weekly Plan for the Daily\nRecording of Professional Visits._\n\nThis is, beyond question, the best and most convenient time- and\nlabor-saving physicians\u2019 pocket record-book ever published. Physicians\nof many years\u2019 standing and with large practices pronounce this the best\nlist they have ever seen. It is handsomely bound in fine, strong leather,\nwith flap, including a pocket for loose memoranda, etc., and is furnished\nwith a Dixon lead-pencil of excellent quality and finish. It is compact\nand convenient for carrying in the pocket. Size, 4 \u00d7 6\u215e inches. In three\nstyles. _Send for Descriptive Circular._\n\n=Net Price, post-paid; No. 1, Regular Size, for 70 patients daily each\nmonth for one year, United States and Canada, $1.25; France, 7 fr. 75.\nNo. 2, Large Size, for 105 patients daily each month for one year, United\nStates and Canada, $1.50; France, 9 fr. 35. No. 3, in which \u201cThe Blanks\nfor Recording Visits in\u201d are in six (6) removable sections, United States\nand Canada, $1.75; France, 12 fr. 20.=\n\n_Special Edition for Great Britain only, 4s. 6d._\n\n\n=MICHENER\u2014Hand-Book of Eclampsia=; _or, Notes and Cases of Puerperal\nConvulsions_.\n\nBy E. MICHENER, M.D.; J. H. STUBBS, M.D.; R. B. EWING, M.D.; B. THOMPSON,\nM.D.; S. STEBBINS, M.D. 16mo. Cloth.\n\n=Price, 60 cents, net; Great Britain, 4s. 6d.; France, 4 fr. 20.=\n\n\n=NISSEN\u2014A Manual of Instruction for Giving Swedish Movement and Massage\nTreatment.=\n\nBy PROF. HARTVIG NISSEN, Director of the Swedish Health Institute,\nWashington, D.C.; late Instructor in Physical Culture and Gymnastics\nat the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.; Author of \u201cHealth\nby Exercise without Apparatus.\u201d Illustrated with 29 Original\nWood-Engravings. In one 12mo volume of 128 pages. Neatly bound in Cloth.\n\n=Price, in United States and Canada, post-paid, $1.00, net; Great\nBritain, 6s.; France, 6 fr. 20.=\n\n\n=Physicians\u2019 All-Requisite Time- and Labor-Saving Account-Book.= _Being a\nLedger and Account-Book for Physicians\u2019 Use, Meeting all the Requirements\nof the Law and Courts._\n\nDesigned by WILLIAM A. SEIBERT, M.D. of Easton, Pa. There is no\nexaggeration in stating that this Account-Book and Ledger reduces the\nlabor of keeping your accounts more than one-half, and at the same time\nsecures the greatest degree of accuracy.\n\nTo all physicians desiring a quick, accurate, and comprehensive method\nof keeping their accounts, we can safely say that no book as suitable as\nthis one has ever been devised.\n\n=Prices, Shipping Expenses Prepaid: No. 1, 300 Pages, for 900 Accounts\nper Year, Size 10 \u00d7 12, Bound in \u00be-Russia, Raised Back-Bands, Cloth\nSides, in United States, $5.00; Canada (duty paid), $5.50, net; Great\nBritain, 28s.; France, 30 fr. 30. No. 2, 600 Pages, for 1800 Accounts per\nYear, Size 10 \u00d7 12, Bound in \u00be-Russia, Raised Back-Bands, Cloth Sides,\nin United States, $8.00; Canada (duty paid), $8.80, net; Great Britain,\n42s.; France, 49 fr. 40.=\n\nA circular showing the plan of the book will be sent free to any address\non application.\n\n\n=Physicians\u2019 Interpreter=: _In Four Languages (English, French, German,\nand Italian)_.\n\nSpecially arranged for diagnosis by M. VON V. The object of this little\nwork is to meet a need often keenly felt by the busy physician, namely,\nthe need of some quick and reliable method of communicating intelligibly\nwith patients of those nationalities and languages unfamiliar to the\npractitioner. The plan of the book is a systematic arrangement of\nquestions upon the various branches of Practical Medicine, and each\nquestion is so worded that the only answer required of the patient is\nmerely YES or NO. The questions are all numbered, and a complete Index\nrenders them always available for quick reference. The book is written by\none who is well versed in English, French, German, and Italian, being an\nexcellent teacher in those languages, and who has also had considerable\nhospital experience. Bound in full Russia Leather, for carrying in the\npocket. Size, 5 \u00d7 2\u2154 inches. 206 pages.\n\n=Price, in United States and Canada, post-paid, $1.00, net; Great\nBritain, 6s.; France, 6 fr. 20.=\n\n\n=PRICE AND EAGLETON\u2014Three Charts of the Nervo-Vascular System.= _Part\nI.\u2014The Nerves. Part II.\u2014The Arteries. Part III.\u2014The Veins._\n\nA New edition, Revised and Perfected. Arranged by W. HENRY PRICE,\nM.D., and S. POTTS EAGLETON, M.D. Endorsed by leading Anatomists. \u201cThe\nNervo-Vascular System of Charts\u201d far excels every other system in their\ncompleteness, compactness, and accuracy. Clearly and beautifully printed\nupon extra-durable paper. Each chart measures 19 \u00d7 24 inches.\n\n=Price, in the United States and Canada, post-paid, 50 cents, net,\nComplete; Great Britain, 3s. 6d.; France, 3 fr. 60.=\n\n\n=PURDY\u2014Diabetes: its Cause, Symptoms, and Treatment.=\n\nBy CHAS. W. PURDY, M.D. (Queen\u2019s University), Honorary Fellow of the\nRoyal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Kingston; Member of the\nCollege of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario; Author of \u201cBright\u2019s\nDisease and Allied Affections of the Kidneys;\u201d Member of the Association\nof American Physicians; Member of the American Medical Association;\nMember of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, etc., etc. With Clinical\nIllustrations. In one neat 12mo volume. Handsomely bound in Dark-Blue\nCloth. _No. 8 in the Physicians\u2019 and Students\u2019 Ready-Reference series._\n\n=Price, United States and Canada, $1.25, net; Great Britain, 6s. 6d.;\nFrance, 7 fr. 75; post-paid.=\n\n\n=REMONDINO\u2014Circumcision: its History, Modes of Operation, etc.= _From\nthe Earliest Times to the Present; with a History of Eunuchism,\nHermaphrodism, etc., as Observed Among All Races and Nations; also\na Description of the Different Operative Methods of Modern Surgery\nPracticed upon the Prepuce._\n\nBy P. C. REMONDINO, M.D. (Jefferson); Member of the American Medical\nAssociation; Member of the American Public Health Association; Member of\nthe State Medical Society of California, and of the Southern California\nMedical Society. IN PRESS. NEARLY READY. _No. 11 in the Physicians\u2019 and\nStudents\u2019 Ready-Reference Series._\n\n\n=ROH\u00c9\u2014Text-Book of Hygiene.= _A Comprehensive Treatise on the Principles\nand Practice of Preventive Medicine from an American Stand-point._\n\nBy GEORGE H. ROH\u00c9, M.D., Professor of Obstetrics and Hygiene in the\nCollege of Physicians and Surgeons, Baltimore; Member of the American\nPublic Health Association, etc.\n\nSECOND EDITION, thoroughly revised and largely rewritten, with many\nillustrations and valuable tables. In one handsome Royal Octavo volume of\nover 400 pages, bound in Extra Cloth.\n\n=Price, United States, post-paid, $2.50, net; Canada (duty paid) $2.75,\nnet; Great Britain, 14s.; France, 16 fr. 20.=\n\nEvery Sanitarian should have Roh\u00e9\u2019s \u201cText-Book of Hygiene\u201d as a work\nof reference. Of this new (second) edition, one of the best qualified\njudges, namely, Albert L. Gihon, M.D., Medical Director of U.S. Navy, in\ncharge of U.S. Naval Hospital, Brooklyn, N. Y., and ex-President of the\nAmerican Public Health Association, writes: \u201cIt is the most admirable,\nconcise _r\u00e9sum\u00e9_ of the facts of Hygiene with which I am acquainted.\nProfessor Roh\u00e9\u2019s attractive style makes the book so readable that no\nbetter presentation of the important place of Preventive Medicine, among\ntheir studies, can be desired for the younger members, especially, of our\nprofession.\u201d\n\n\n=SAJOUS\u2014Hay Fever and its Successful Treatment by Superficial Organic\nAlteration of the Nasal Mucous Membrane.=\n\nBy CHARLES E. SAJOUS, M.D., formerly Lecturer on Rhinology and\nLaryngology in Jefferson Medical College; Vice-President of the American\nLaryngological Association; Officer of the Academy of France and of\nPublic Instruction of Venezuela; Corresponding Member of the Royal\nSociety of Belgium, of the Medical Society of Warsaw (Poland), and of\nthe Society of Hygiene of France; Member of the American Philosophical\nSociety, etc., etc. With 13 Engravings on Wood. 12mo. Bound in Cloth.\nBeveled edges.\n\n=Price, in United States and Canada, $1.00, net; Great Britain, 6s.;\nFrance, 6 fr. 20.=\n\n\n=SANNE\u2014Diphtheria, Croup: Tracheotomy and Intubation.=\n\nFrom the French of A. SANNE. Translated and enlarged by HENRY Z. GILL,\nM.D., LL.D. Diphtheria having become such a prevalent, wide-spread, and\nfatal disease, no general practitioner can afford to be without this\nwork. It will aid in preventive measures, stimulate promptness in the\napplication of and efficiency in treatment, and moderate the extravagant\nviews which have been entertained regarding certain specifics in the\ndisease diphtheria.\n\nA full Index accompanies the enlarged volume, also a list of authors,\nmaking, altogether, a very handsome ILLUSTRATED volume of over 680 pages.\n\n=Price, United States, post-paid, Cloth, $4.00, Leather, $5.00. Canada\n(duty paid), Cloth, $4.40; Leather, $5.50, net. Great Britain, Cloth,\n22s. 6d.; Leather, 28s. France, Cloth, 24 fr. 60; Leather, 30 fr. 30.=\n\n\n=SENN\u2014Principles of Surgery.=\n\nBy N. SENN, M.D., PH.D., Professor of Principles of Surgery and Surgical\nPathology in Rush Medical College, Chicago. Ill.; Professor of Surgery\nin the Chicago Polyclinic; Attending Surgeon to the Milwaukee Hospital;\nConsulting Surgeon to the Milwaukee County Hospital and to the Milwaukee\nCounty Insane Asylum.\n\nIn one handsome Royal Octavo volume, with 109 fine Wood-Engravings and\n624 pages.\n\n=Price, in United States, Cloth, $4.50; Sheep or Half-Russia, $5.50, net.\nCanada (duty paid), Cloth, $5.00; Sheep or Half-Russia, $6.10, net; Great\nBritain, Cloth, 24s. 6d.; Sheep or Half-Russia, 30s. France, Cloth, 27\nfr. 20; Sheep or Half-Russia, 33 fr. 10.=\n\nThis work, by one of America\u2019s greatest surgeons, is thoroughly COMPLETE;\nits clearness and brevity of statement are among its conspicuous merits.\nThe author\u2019s long, able, and conscientious researches in every direction\nin this important field are a guarantee of unusual trustworthiness, that\nevery branch of the subject is treated authoritatively and in such a\nmanner as to bring the greatest gain in knowledge to the Practitioner and\nStudent. Physicians and Surgeons alike should not deprive themselves of\nthis very important work.\n\n_A critical examination of the Wood-Engravings (109 in number) will\nreveal the fact that they are thoroughly accurate and produced by the\nbest artistic ability._\n\nStephen Smith, M.D., Professor of Clinical Surgery in Medical Department\nof University of the City of New York, writes: \u201cI have examined the work\nwith great satisfaction, and regard it as a most valuable addition to\nAmerican Surgical literature. There has long been great need of a work\non the principles of Surgery which would fully illustrate the present\nadvanced state of knowledge of the various subjects embraced in this\nvolume. The work seems to me to meet this want admirably.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe achievements of Modern Surgery are akin to the marvelous, and Dr.\nSenn has set forth the principles of the science with a completeness\nthat seems to leave nothing further to be said until new discoveries\nare made. The work is systematic and compact, without a fact omitted or\na sentence too much, and it not only makes instructive but fascinating\nreading. A conspicuous merit of Senn\u2019s work is his method, his persistent\nand tireless search through original investigations for additions\nto knowledge, and the practical character of his discoveries. This\ncombination of the discoverer and the practical man gives a special value\nto all his work, and is one of the secrets of his fame. No physician,\nin any line of practice, can afford to be without Senn\u2019s \u2018Principles of\nSurgery.\u2019\u201d\u2014_The Review of Insanity and Nervous Diseases._\n\n\n=SHOEMAKER\u2014Heredity, Health, and Personal Beauty.= _Including the\nSelection of the Best Cosmetics for the Skin, Hair, Nails, and All Parts\nRelating to the Body._\n\nBy JOHN V. SHOEMAKER, A.M., M.D., Professor of Materia Medica,\nPharmacology, Therapeutics, and Clinical Medicine, and Clinical\nProfessor of Diseases of the Skin in the Medico-Chirurgical College\nof Philadelphia; Physician to the Medico-Chirurgical Hospital, etc.,\netc. _This is just the book to place on the waiting-room table of every\nphysician, and a work that will prove useful in the hands of your\npatients._\n\nThe health of the skin and hair, and how to promote them, are discussed;\nthe treatment of the nails; the subjects of ventilation, food, clothing,\nwarmth, bathing; the circulation of the blood, digestion, ventilation; in\nfact, all that in daily life conduces to the well-being of the body and\nrefinement is duly enlarged upon. To these stores of popular information\nis added a list of the best medicated soaps and toilet soaps, and a whole\nchapter of the work is devoted to household remedies.\n\nThe work is largely suggestive, and gives wise and timely advice as to\nwhen a physician should be consulted.\n\nComplete in one handsome Royal Octavo volume of 425 pages, beautifully\nand clearly printed, and bound in Extra Cloth, Beveled Edges, with side\nand back gilt stamps and Half-Morocco Gilt Top.\n\n=Price, in United States, post-paid, Cloth, $2.50; Half-Morocco, $3.50\nnet. Canada (duty paid), Cloth, $2.75; Half-Morocco, $3.90, net. Great\nBritain, Cloth, 14s.; Half-Morocco, 19s. 6d. France, Cloth, 15 fr.;\nHalf-Morocco, 22 fr.=\n\n\n=SHOEMAKER\u2014Materia Medica and Therapeutics.= _With Especial Reference to\nthe Clinical Application of Drugs._\n\nBeing the second and last volume of a treatise on Materia Medica,\nPharmacology, and Therapeutics, and an independent volume upon drugs.\n\nBy JOHN V. SHOEMAKER, A.M., M.D., Professor of Materia Medica,\nPharmacology, Therapeutics, and Clinical Medicine, and Clinical\nProfessor of Diseases of the Skin in the Medico-Chirurgical College of\nPhiladelphia; Physician to the Medico-Chirurgical Hospital, etc., etc.\n\nThis is the long-looked-for second volume of Shoemaker\u2019s Materia\nMedica, Pharmacology, and Therapeutics. It is wholly taken up with the\nconsideration of drugs, each remedy being studied from three points of\nview, viz.: the Preparations, or Materia Medica; the Physiology and\nToxicology, or Pharmacology; and, lastly, its Therapy. Dr. Shoemaker\nhas finally brought the work to completion, and now this second volume\nis ready for delivery. It is thoroughly abreast of the progress of\nTherapeutic Science, and is really an indispensable book to every student\nand practitioner of medicine. Royal Octavo, about 675 pages. Thoroughly\nand carefully indexed.\n\n=Price, in United States, post-paid, Cloth, $3.50; Sheep, $4.50, net.\nCanada (duty paid), Cloth, $4.00; Sheep, $5.00, net. Great Britain,\nCloth, 20s.; Sheep, 26s. France, Cloth, 22 fr. 40; Sheep, 28 fr. 60.=\n\nThe first volume of this work is devoted to Pharmacy, General\nPharmacology, and Therapeutics, and remedial agents not properly classed\nwith drugs. Royal Octavo, 353 pages. Price of Volume I, post-paid, in\nUnited States, Cloth, $2.50, net; Sheep, $3.25, net. Canada, duty paid,\nCloth, $2.75, net; Sheep, $3.60, net. Great Britain, Cloth, 14s., Sheep,\n18s. France, Cloth, 16 fr. 20; Sheep, 20 fr. 20. _The volumes are sold\nseparately._\n\n\n=SHOEMAKER\u2014Ointments and Oleates, Especially in Diseases of the Skin.=\n\nBy JOHN V. SHOEMAKER, A.M., M.D., Professor of Materia Medica,\nPharmacology, Therapeutics, and Clinical Medicine, and Clinical\nProfessor of Diseases of the Skin in the Medico-Chirurgical College of\nPhiladelphia, etc., etc. SECOND EDITION, revised and enlarged. 298 pages.\n12mo. Neatly bound in Dark-Blue Cloth. _No. 6 in the Physicians\u2019 and\nStudents\u2019 Ready-Reference Series._\n\n=Price, in United States and Canada, post-paid, $1.50, net; Great\nBritain, 8s. 6d.; France, 9 fr. 35.=\n\nThe author concisely concludes his preface as follows: \u201cThe reader may\nthus obtain a conspectus of the whole subject of inunction as it exists\nto-day in the civilized world. In all cases the mode of preparation is\ngiven, and the therapeutical application described seriatim, in so far as\nmay be done without needless repetition.\u201d\n\nIt is invaluable as a ready reference when ointments or oleates are to be\nused, and is serviceable to both druggist and physician.\u2014_Canada Medical\nRecord._\n\nTo the physician who feels uncertain as to the best form in which to\nprescribe medicines by way of the skin the book will prove valuable,\nowing to the many prescriptions and formul\u00e6 which dot its pages, while\nthe copious index at the back materially aids in making the book a useful\none.\u2014_Medical News._\n\n\n=SMITH\u2014The Physiology of the Domestic Animals.= _A Text-Book for\nVeterinary and Medical Students and Practitioners._\n\nBy ROBERT MEADE SMITH, A.M., M.D., Professor of Comparative Physiology\nin University of Pennsylvania; Fellow of the College of Physicians\nand Academy of the Natural Sciences, Philadelphia; of the American\nPhysiological Society; of the American Society of Naturalists; Associ\u00e9\n\u00c9tranger de la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Fran\u00e7aise d\u2019Hygi\u00e8ne, etc. In one handsome Royal\nOctavo volume of over 950 pages. Profusely illustrated with more than 400\nfine Wood-Engravings and many Colored Plates.\n\n=Price, in United States, Cloth, $5.00; Sheep, $6.00, net. Canada (duty\npaid), Cloth, $5.50; Sheep, $6.60, net. Great Britain, Cloth, 28s.;\nSheep, 32s. France, Cloth, 30 fr. 30; Sheep, 36 fr. 20.=\n\nThis new and important work is the most thoroughly complete in the\nEnglish language on the subject. In it the physiology of the domestic\nanimals is treated in a most comprehensive manner, especial prominence\nbeing given to the subject of foods and fodders, and the character\nof the diet for the herbivora under different conditions, with a\nfull consideration of their digestive peculiarities. Without being\noverburdened with details, it forms a complete text-book of physiology,\nadapted to the use of students and practitioners of both veterinary and\nhuman medicine. This work has already been adopted as the Text-Book\non Physiology in the Veterinary Colleges of the United States, Great\nBritain, and Canada.\n\n\n=SOZINSKEY\u2014Medical Symbolism.= _Historical Studies in the Arts of Healing\nand Hygiene._\n\nBy THOMAS S. SOZINSKEY, M.D., PH.D., Author of \u201cThe Culture of Beauty,\u201d\n\u201cThe Care and Culture of Children,\u201d etc. 12mo, Nearly 200 pages. Neatly\nbound in Dark-Blue Cloth. Appropriately illustrated with upward of\nthirty (30) new Wood-Engravings. _No. 9 in the Physicians\u2019 and Students\u2019\nReady-Reference Series._\n\n=Price, in United States and Canada, post-paid, $1.00, net; Great\nBritain, 6s.; France, 6 fr. 20.=\n\n\n=STEWART\u2014Obstetric Synopsis.=\n\nBy JOHN S. STEWART, M.D., Demonstrator of Obstetrics and Chief Assistant\nin the Gyn\u00e6cological Clinic of the Medico-Chirurgical College of\nPhiladelphia; with an introductory note by WILLIAM S. STEWART, A.M.,\nM.D., Professor of Obstetrics and Gyn\u00e6cology in the Medico-Chirurgical\nCollege of Philadelphia. 42 Illustrations. 202 pages. 12mo. Handsomely\nbound in Dark-Blue Cloth. _No. 1 in the Physicians\u2019 and Students\u2019\nReady-Reference Series._\n\n=Price, in United States and Canada, post-paid, $1.00 net; Great Britain,\n6s. 6d.; France, 6 fr. 20.=\n\n\n=ULTZMANN\u2014The Neuroses of the Genito-Urinary System in the Male.= _With\nSterility and Impotence._\n\nBy DR. R. ULTZMANN, Professor of Genito-Urinary Diseases in the\nUniversity of Vienna. Translated, with the author\u2019s permission, by\nGARDNER W. ALLEN, M.D., Surgeon in the Genito-Urinary Department, Boston\nDispensary. Illustrated. 12mo. Handsomely bound in Dark-Blue Cloth. _No.\n4 in the Physicians\u2019 and Students\u2019 Ready-Reference Series._\n\n=Price, in United States and Canada, post-paid, $1.00, net; Great\nBritain, 6s.;. France, 6 fr. 20.=\n\nSYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS.\u2014First Part\u2014I. Chemical Changes in the Urine in\nCases of Neuroses. II. Neuroses of the Urinary and of the Sexual Organs,\nclassified as: (1) Sensory Neuroses; (2) Motor Neuroses; (3) Secretory\nNeuroses. Second Part\u2014Sterility and Impotence. The treatment in all cases\nis described clearly and minutely.\n\n\n=WHEELER\u2014Abstracts of Pharmacology.=\n\nBy H. A. WHEELER, M.D. (Registered Pharmacist, No. 3468, Iowa). Prepared\nfor the use of Physicians and Pharmacists, and especially for the use of\nStudents of Medicine and Pharmacy, who are preparing for Examination in\nColleges and before State Boards of Examiners.\n\nThis book does not contain questions and answers, but solid pages of\nabstract information. It will bean almost indispensable companion to the\npracticing Pharmacist and a very useful reference-book to the Physician.\nIt contains a brief but thorough explanation of all terms and processes\nused in practical pharmacy, an abstract of all that is essential to be\nknown of each officinal drug, its preparations and therapeutic action,\nwith doses: in Chemistry and Botany, much that is useful to the Physician\nand Pharmacist; a general working formula for each class and an abstract\nformula for each officinal preparation, and many of the more popular\nunofficinal ones, together with their doses; also many symbolic formulas;\na list of abbreviations used in prescription writing; rules governing\nincompatibilities; a list of Solvents; tests for the more common drugs;\nthe habitat and best time for gathering plants to secure their medical\nproperties.\n\nThe book contains 180 pages, 5\u00bd \u00d7 8 inches, closely printed and on the\nbest paper, nicely and durably bound, containing a greater amount of\ninformation on the above topics than any other work for the money.\n\n=Price, in United States and Canada, post-paid, $1.50, net; Great\nBritain, 8s. 6d.; France, 9 fr. 35.=\n\n\n=WITHERSTINE\u2014International Pocket Medical Formulary.= _Arranged\nTherapeutically._\n\nBy C. SUMNER WITHERSTINE, M.S., M.D., Associate Editor of the \u201cAnnual\nof the Universal Medical Sciences;\u201d Visiting Physician of the Home\nfor the Aged, Germantown, Philadelphia; late House-Surgeon to Charity\nHospital, New York. Including more than 1800 formul\u00e6 from several hundred\nwell-known authorities. With an Appendix containing a Posological\nTable, the newer remedies included; Important Incompatibles; Tables on\nDentition and the Pulse; Table of Drops in a Fluidrachm and Doses of\nLaudanum graduated for age; Formul\u00e6 and Doses of Hypodermatic Medication,\nincluding the newer remedies; Uses of the Hypodermatic Syringe; Formul\u00e6\nand Doses for Inhalations, Nasal Douches, Gargles, and Eye-washes;\nFormul\u00e6 for Suppositories; Use of the Thermometer in Disease; Poisons,\nAntidotes, and Treatment; Directions for Post-Mortem and Medico-Legal\nExaminations; Treatment of Asphyxia, Sun-stroke, etc.; Anti-emetic\nRemedies and Disinfectants; Obstetrical Table; Directions for Ligation\nof Arteries; Urinary Analysis; Table of Eruptive Fevers; Motor Points\nfor Electrical Treatment, etc. This work, the best and most complete\nof its kind, contains about 275 printed pages, besides extra blank\nleaves. Elegantly printed, with red lines, edges, and borders; with\nillustrations. Bound in leather, with Side-Flap.\n\n=Price, in United States and Canada, post-paid, $2.00, net; Great\nBritain, 11s. 6d.; France, 12 fr. 40.=\n\n\n=YOUNG\u2014Synopsis of Human Anatomy.= _Being a Complete Compend of Anatomy,\nincluding the Anatomy of the Viscera, and Numerous Tables._\n\nBy JAMES K. YOUNG, M.D., Instructor in Orthop\u00e6dic Surgery and Assistant\nDemonstrator of Surgery, University of Pennsylvania; Attending Orthop\u00e6dic\nSurgeon, Out-Patient Department, University Hospital, etc. Illustrated\nwith 76 Wood-Engravings. 390 pages. 12mo. _No. 8 in the Physicians\u2019 and\nStudents\u2019 Ready-Reference Series._\n\n=Price, in United States and Canada, post-paid, $1.40, net; Great\nBritain, 8s. 6d.; France, 9 fr. 25.=\n\nWhile the author has prepared this work especially for students,\nsufficient descriptive matter has been added to render it extremely\nvaluable to the busy practitioner, particularly the sections on the\nViscera, Special Senses, and Surgical Anatomy.\n\nThe work includes a complete account of Osteology, Articulations and\nLigaments, Muscles, Fascias, Vascular and Nervous Systems, Alimentary,\nVocal, and Respiratory and Genito-Urinary Apparatus, the Organs of\nSpecial Sense, and Surgical Anatomy.\n\nIn addition to a most carefully and accurately prepared text, wherever\npossible, the value of the work has been enhanced by tables to facilitate\nand minimize the labor of students in acquiring a thorough knowledge of\nthis important subject. The section on the teeth has also been especially\nprepared to meet the requirements of students of dentistry.\n\nIn its preparation, Gray\u2019s \u201cAnatomy\u201d (last edition), edited by Keen,\nbeing the anatomical work most used, has been taken as the standard.\n\n\n_The following Publications sold only by Subscription, or Sent Direct on\nReceipt of Price, Shipping Expenses Prepaid._\n\n\n=Annual of the Universal Medical Sciences.= _A Yearly Report of the\nProcess of the General Sanitary Sciences Throughout the World._\n\nEdited by CHARLES E. SAJOUS, M.D., formerly Lecturer on Laryngology\nand Rhinology in Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, etc., and\nSeventy Associate Editors, assisted by over Two hundred Corresponding\nEditors and Collaborators. In Five Royal Octavo Volumes of about 500\npages each, bound in Cloth and Half-Russia, Magnificently Illustrated\nwith Chromo-Lithographs, Engravings, Maps, Charts, and Diagrams. Being\nintended to enable any physician to possess, at a moderate cost, a\ncomplete Contemporary History of Universal Medicine, edited by many of\nAmerica\u2019s ablest teachers, and superior in every detail of print, paper,\nbinding, etc., a befitting continuation of such great works as \u201cPepper\u2019s\nSystem of Medicine,\u201d \u201cAshhurst\u2019s International Encyclop\u00e6dia of Surgery,\u201d\n\u201cBuck\u2019s Reference Hand-Book of the Medical Sciences.\u201d\n\n=SUBSCRIPTION PRICE Per Year (Including the \u201cSATELLITE\u201d for one year):\nin United States, Cloth, 5 Vols., Royal Octavo, $15.00, Half-Russia,\n5 Vols., Royal Octavo, $20.00. Canada (duty paid), Cloth, $16.50;\nHalf-Russia, $22.00. Great Britain, Cloth, \u00a34 7s; Half-Russia, \u00a35 15s.\nFrance, Cloth, 93 fr. 95; Half-Russia, 124 fr. 35.=\n\nTHE SATELLITE of the \u201cAnnual of the Universal Medical Sciences.\u201d A\nMonthly Review of the most important articles upon the practical branches\nof Medicine appearing in the medical press at large, edited by the Chief\nEditor of the ANNUAL and an able staff. Published in connection with the\nANNUAL, and for its Subscribers Only.\n\n\n=Lectures on Nervous Diseases.= _From the Stand-point of Cerebral and\nSpinal Localization, and the Later Methods Employed in the Diagnosis and\nTreatment of these Affections._\n\nBy AMBROSE L. RANNEY, A.M., M.D., Professor of the Anatomy and Physiology\nof the Nervous System in the New York Post-Graduate Medical School\nand Hospital; Professor of Nervous and Mental Diseases in the Medical\nDepartment of the University of Vermont, etc.; Author of \u201cThe Applied\nAnatomy of the Nervous System,\u201d \u201cPractical Medical Anatomy,\u201d etc., etc.\nProfusely Illustrated with Original Diagrams and Sketches in Color by the\nauthor, carefully selected Wood-Engravings, and Reproduced Photographs of\nTypical Cases. One handsome Royal Octavo volume of 780 pages.\n\n=Price, in United States, Cloth, $5.50; Sheep, $6.50; Half-Russia, $7.00.\nCanada (duty paid), Cloth, $6.05; Sheep, $7.15; Half-Russia, $7.70. Great\nBritain, Cloth, 32s.; Sheep, 37s. 6d.; Half-Russia, 40s. France, Cloth,\n34 fr. 70; Sheep, 40 fr. 45; Half-Russia, 43 fr. 30.=\n\n\n=Lectures on the Diseases of the Nose and Throat.= _Delivered at the\nJefferson Medical College, Philadelphia._\n\nBy CHARLES E. SAJOUS, M.D., formerly Lecturer on Rhinology and\nLaryngology in Jefferson Medical College; Vice-President of the American\nLaryngological Association; Officer of the Academy of France and of\nPublic Instruction of Venezuela; Corresponding Member of the Royal\nSociety of Belgium, of the Medical Society of Warsaw (Poland), and of\nthe Society of Hygiene of France; Member of the American Philosophical\nSociety, etc., etc. Illustrated with 100 Chromo-Lithographs, from\nOil-Paintings by the author, and 93 Engravings on Wood. One handsome\nRoyal Octavo volume.\n\n=Price, in United States, Cloth, Royal Octavo, $4.00; Half-Russia, Royal\nOctavo, $5.00. Canada (duty paid), Cloth, $4.40; Half-Russia, $5.50.\nGreat Britain, Cloth, 22s. 6d.; Sheep or Half-Russia, 28s. France, Cloth,\n24 fr. 60; Half-Russia, 30 fr. 30.=\n\n\n=Stanton\u2019s Practical and Scientific Physiognomy; or How to Read Faces.=\n\nBy MARY OLMSTED STANTON. Copiously Illustrated. Two large Octavo volumes.\n\nThe author, MRS. MARY O. STANTON, has given over twenty years to the\npreparation of this work. Her style is easy, and, by her happy method of\nillustration of every point, the book reads like a novel and memorizes\nitself. To physicians the diagnostic information conveyed is invaluable.\nTo the general reader each page opens a new train of ideas. (This book\nhas no reference whatever to Phrenology.)\n\n=Price, in United States, Cloth, $9.00; Sheep, $11.00; Half-Russia,\n$13.00. Canada (duty paid), Cloth, $10.00; Sheep, $12.10; Half-Russia,\n$14.30. Great Britain, Cloth, 56s.; Sheep, 68s.; Half-Russia, 80s.\nFrance, Cloth, 30 fr. 30; Sheep, 36 fr. 40; Half-Russia, 43 fr. 30.=\n\nSold only by Subscription, or sent direct on receipt of price, shipping\nexpenses prepaid.\n\n\n=Journal of Laryngology and Rhinology.=\n\nIssued on the First of Each Month. Edited by DR. NORRIS WOLFENDEN, of\nLondon, and DR. JOHN MACINTYRE, of Glasgow, with the active aid and\nco-operation of DRS. DUNDAS GRANT, BARCLAY J. BARON, HUNTER MACKENZIE,\nand SIR MORELL MACKENZIE. Besides those specialists in Europe and America\nwho have so ably assisted in the collaboration of the Journal, a number\nof new correspondents have undertaken to assist the Editors in keeping\nthe Journal up to date, and furnishing it with matters of interest.\nAmongst these are: DRS. SAJOUS, of Philadelphia; MIDDLEMASS HUNT, of\nLiverpool; MELLOW, of Rio Janeiro; SEDZIAK, of Warsaw; DRAISPUL, of St.\nPetersburg, etc. DRS. MICHAEL, JOAL, HOLGER MYGIND, PROF. MASSEI, and\nDR. VALERIUS IDELSON will still collaborate the literature of their\nrespective countries.\n\n=Price, 13s. or $3.00 per annum (inclusive of Postage). For single\ncopies, however, a charge of 1s. 3d. (30 Cents) will be made. Sample\nCopy, 25 Cents.=\n\n\n=The Medical Bulletin.=\n\nEdited by JOHN V. SHOEMAKER, A.M., M.D. Monthly; $1.00 a year. Bright,\nOriginal, and Readable. Articles by the best practical writers\nprocurable. Every article as brief as is consistent with the preservation\nof its scientific value. Therapeutic notes by the leaders of the medical\nprofession throughout the world. These and many other unique features\nhelp to keep THE MEDICAL BULLETIN in its present position as the leading\nlow-priced Medical Monthly of the world. Subscribe now!\n\n=TERMS, $1.00 A YEAR IN ADVANCE=\n\nIn United States, Canada, and Mexico.\n\n=Foreign Subscription Terms.=\n\n    =ENGLAND, 5 Shillings.=\n    =AUSTRALIA, 5 Shillings.=\n    =FRANCE, 6 Francs.=\n    =JAPAN, 1 Yen.=\n    =GERMANY, 5 Marks.=\n    =HOLLAND, 3 Florins.=","title":"Medical symbolism in connection with historical studies in the arts of healing and hygiene","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":57366}